Pharmaceutical company Hengrui Medicine has announced the nationwide online launch of its Class 1 innovative drug, Luzinuolei Sodium Tablets (brand name: Ruiming®), on the ALI HEALTH platform.

This medication is indicated for the treatment of gout with hyperuricemia and is described as China's first self-developed new-generation, highly selective urate transporter 1 (URAT1) inhibitor.

Statistics indicate that the prevalence of hyperuricemia among adults in China is 14%, equating to nearly 200 million individuals, while the prevalence of gout has also risen to 3.2%. A study published in a 2025 issue of the international medical journal The Lancet, covering 500,000 Chinese people, highlighted that gout is not only closely associated with seven major diseases but also increases the risk of death by nearly 60%.

Given this significant disease burden, uric acid-lowering therapy is a core strategy for the long-term management of gout. Commonly used xanthine oxidase (XO) inhibitors work by reducing the production of uric acid. However, approximately two-thirds of the uric acid produced in the human body needs to be excreted through the kidneys. Even if production is reduced, poor excretion can still hinder treatment goals. Research shows that 30% to 70% of patients treated with XO inhibitors alone still fail to achieve their target serum uric acid (sUA) levels.

The urate transporter 1 (URAT1) is responsible for about 90% of uric acid reabsorption in the kidneys, making it a core target for regulating uric acid excretion. Luzinuolei Sodium is a highly selective URAT1 inhibitor independently developed by Hengrui Medicine targeting this mechanism. It works by inhibiting uric acid reabsorption, promoting excretion, and thereby lowering serum uric acid levels—effectively "opening the drainage valve" for the kidneys. This mechanism complements the "production reduction" approach of XO inhibitors.

Results from a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, positive-drug parallel-controlled Phase III clinical study demonstrated that Luzinuolei Sodium monotherapy for gout with hyperuricemia was significantly superior to the control group in uric acid-lowering efficacy. The drug significantly increased the rate of achieving target serum uric acid levels and provided long-term, stable reduction of serum uric acid.