Eli Lilly Terminates Volenrelaxin Study for CKD

Drug maker Eli Lilly has ended a phase II trial of volenrelaxin in chronic kidney disease (CKD).

An update posted to ClinicalTrials.gov on January 28, 2025, explained that the study “was terminated due to a lack of foreseeable clinical benefit in the proposed chronic kidney disease population, following the termination of a related heart failure study that demonstrated no benefit in an overlapping patient group.”

Volenrelaxin is an investigational synthetic analog of the human protein hormone relaxin. In a phase I trial, it demonstrated improvement in kidney perfusion on repeated dosing, suggesting that further clinical development in CKD and chronic heart failure was appropriate.

The termination of the phase II trial has raised concerns about the viability of TX45, which targets the same RXFP1 receptor as volenrelaxin. Shares of Tectonic Therapeutic, TX45’s developer, fell sharply after the announcement. However, TX45 uses a different approach than volenrelaxin and is being investigated for different indications.

Source: BioSpace