06:32 AM EDT, 10/09/2024 (MT Newswires) -- XORTX Therapeutics ( XRTX ) , a late-stage clinical pharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies to treat progressive kidney disease, announced Wednesday that it has initiated a precision medicine program.

On August 29, XORTX had announced that independent peer-reviewed research reported that genetic factors are linked to the over-expression of xanthine oxidase and play a role in several diseases, including kidney disease.

In Wednesday's statement XORTX said "these ground-breaking findings provide an opportunity to expand the company's programs and approach by combining genetic diagnostics focused on treating kidney and diseases such as sepsis by inhibiting XO with xanthine oxidase inhibition targeting individuals most in need."

According to XORTX, recent pioneering discoveries provide it with the opportunity to develop diagnostics that identify specific genetic factors. It said: "These diagnostic tools alongside XORTX's expertise at developing unique formulations of uric acid lowering agents and XO inhibitors will permit XORTX to tailor treatments to subpopulations of individuals that have common susceptibility or similar response to a particular drug."

Dr. Allen Davidoff, PhD., chief executive of XORTX, added: "The application of genetic diagnostic tools and recent pioneering discoveries in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, diabetic kidney and non-diabetic kidney disease provide a unique opportunity that XORTX is ideally positioned to address. The new opportunity to specifically identify a series of genetic factors, then targeting XO has enormous therapeutic potential for treating the health consequences associated with these alleles. The company will begin evaluating individuals as early as our planned registration clinical trial in patients with ADPKD providing XORTX with an opportunity to better understand the role these genetic factors play in progressive kidney disease."

XRTX jumped $0.24 to $2.39 on the TSX yesterday.