Elecoglipron kidney data from SOLSTICE support a 7000 patient phase 3 outcomes trial

New elecoglipron kidney data were presented at the American Society of Nephrology's Kidney Week 2026 in Denver. Hiddo Heerspink of the University Medical Center Groningen told Pharmacy Times that AstraZeneca's oral GLP 1 drug cut urine albumin in adults with type 2 diabetes in the phase 2 SOLSTICE trial. Those results support Elevate-CKD, a phase 3 kidney outcomes trial that started in August. Elecoglipron is not approved anywhere, and the albumin findings are a marker of kidney damage, not proof of protection.

What SOLSTICE showed on albuminuria

SOLSTICE tested once daily elecoglipron, a small molecule that acts on the GLP 1 receptor, against placebo for 26 weeks in adults with type 2 diabetes. The ClinicalTrials.gov record, NCT06579105, lists 406 participants and a primary completion date of December 19, 2025. AstraZeneca reported the main results in June at the American Diabetes Association meeting in New Orleans, with simultaneous publication in The Lancet. At the highest dose, glycated haemoglobin fell by 1.9 percentage points against 0.2 on placebo, and body weight fell by 7.7 percent against 1.7 percent, the company said. Heerspink's Kidney Week abstract looked at a secondary question: whether the drug also lowered the urine albumin to creatinine ratio, known as UACR.

He told Pharmacy Times that every dose studied lowered UACR compared with placebo. One of the higher doses produced a reduction similar to that seen with oral semaglutide, an approved GLP 1 tablet used as a comparison, and the top dose gave a nominally larger fall. Nominal means the difference was not formally tested and should not be read as superiority. He also reported lower high sensitivity C reactive protein, a marker of inflammation. The interview did not give the size of the UACR changes or confidence intervals, and the abstract has not yet appeared in a journal. Albuminuria is a well established sign of kidney damage in diabetes, but lowering it does not by itself show that kidney failure is prevented.

The Elevate CKD outcomes trial

The answer to that question is the job of Elevate-CKD. According to its ClinicalTrials.gov registry entry, NCT07753993, the randomized, double blind, placebo controlled phase 3 study aims to enrol about 7,000 adults with chronic kidney disease. It started on August 21, 2026, and is recruiting. The primary endpoint is the time to the first of three events: a sustained fall of at least half in estimated glomerular filtration rate, end stage kidney disease, or death from any cause. The trial is event driven and may last up to four and a half years per participant. The registry estimates primary completion in October 2030, so hard outcome results are years away.

The trial is event driven and may last up to four and a half years per participant.

The SOLSTICE kidney signal was one input to that design, Heerspink said. A fact check of the interview found one error worth noting. Pharmacy Times gave the SOLSTICE registry number as NCT03869892, but that record belongs to an unrelated Servier colorectal cancer trial that shares the SOLSTICE name. The elecoglipron study is filed under NCT06579105. AstraZeneca is also running Eluminate-4, NCT07662135, a phase 3 trial in about 900 adults with type 2 diabetes and impaired kidney function who take dapagliflozin. That trial began in July 2026 and tests glucose control rather than kidney outcomes, but it will add safety data in people with weaker kidneys.

Glucagon and finerenone at Kidney Week

Heerspink also spoke about glucagon, a hormone now built into several multi target obesity drugs in development. He told Pharmacy Times that glucagon may help the kidney by reducing fat around and inside it, improving metabolic markers and pressure inside the filtering units, and dampening signals that drive scarring. Taken together, he said, these effects may lower albuminuria and could protect the kidney over the long term. These are mechanisms proposed from research, not results from a single trial, and he did not present outcome data for any glucagon based drug. The remarks matter because combination peptides that act on glucagon, GLP 1 and GIP receptors are moving through late stage trials in obesity and diabetes.

A third talk covered finerenone, Bayer's nonsteroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist sold as Kerendia, in focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, a scarring disease of the kidney filters. Heerspink said finerenone slowed the yearly decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate compared with placebo and reduced proteinuria by 40 percent. The risk of clinical kidney endpoints was also 40 percent lower, but that result was not statistically significant, with a P value of 0.06, which he linked to the small number of patients. He told pharmacists that drugs used together in chronic kidney disease have few interactions with each other, and that he expects combination treatment to become common.

What comes next for elecoglipron kidney research

The next elecoglipron kidney milestone is a full publication of the SOLSTICE albuminuria analysis, with effect sizes and safety by dose. Until then, readers have only the interview summary, which did not describe how many participants had raised albumin at the start of the trial. AstraZeneca's wider phase 3 programme includes EMBOLD in obesity, ELUMINATE in type 2 diabetes and outcome trials in kidney disease and heart failure, the company said in June. Elecoglipron joins a crowded field of oral GLP 1 candidates, and the company will need outcome data, not only marker changes, to claim kidney protection on a label. The Pharmacy Times interview gives the presenter's own account of the Kidney Week sessions.

Regulators usually judge kidney claims on hard outcomes rather than on markers, which is why Elevate-CKD counts lasting filtration loss, kidney failure and death as its primary events. For now, elecoglipron remains an investigational drug available only inside trials. Heerspink did not say when the full albuminuria analysis will be submitted to a journal. Readers who want the background on how trial readouts are reported can follow our trials desk. Business moves around oral GLP 1 programmes are covered on the industry desk. This story will be updated if the Kidney Week abstract or a journal paper gives the size of the UACR effect.

Conclusion

The elecoglipron kidney story is at an early stage. A phase 2 trial showed lower urine albumin with AstraZeneca's oral GLP 1 drug, according to the investigator who presented it in Denver, and a 7,000 person outcomes trial is now recruiting. The marker data are encouraging but limited. Whether the drug protects kidneys will only be known when Elevate-CKD reports, which the registry places around 2030.