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Companies audition for KidneyX funding
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SAN DIEGO — Innovative ideas on how to treat kidney disease, including xenotransplantation, a 24/7 wearable artificial kidney and a sensor that tracks treatment information in real time, were presented at ASN Kidney Week 2018 during the KidneyX Innovators Showcase.
The presentations were the first step for CMS and HHS to stimulate interest in developing new devices for kidney care through its Redesign Dialysis program. The prize competition will run in two phases with a total prize purse of $2,625,000. The first phase will award up to 15 prizes of $75,000 to participants who design solutions or components of solutions that can replicate normal kidney functions and improve patient quality of life. Phase 1 will run until Feb. 28, 2019, and awardees will be announced on April 30, 2019. The second phase, planned to run from April 2019 to January 2020, will ask participants to develop initial prototypes.
Three companies presented ideas during the prize competition showcase at ASN Kidney Week 2018 before a group of judges. Conference attendees were also given the opportunity to ask questions about the devices.
Companies that pitched products for the prize showcase included:
Miromatrix (www.miromatrix.com): Jeff Ross, PhD, the CEO of the company, proposed the idea of creating bioengineered transplantable organs - including kidneys, livers and hearts - to eliminate the organ transplant waiting list. The company would use its perfusion decellularization and recellularization technology to engineer new kidney grafts that combine pig-derived scaffolds with human kidney cells. The company recently received a $99,950 grant from Regenerative Medicine Minnesota. The company also recently raised $15.7 million for its research work.
Graftworx (www.graftworx.com): The company specializes in manufacturing devices that combine state-of-the-art sensors and algorithms for use by patients to retrieve real-time clinical data. David Kuraguntla, the company CEO, proposed the idea of a device attached to the patient’s vascular access that would use up to 11 sensors to collect information with proprietary algorithms during the dialysis treatment.
Wearable Artificial Organs Inc. (Facebook): Victor Gura, MD, the CEO of the company, has completed an initial trial with a prototype of the wearable artificial kidney; a third-generation model reduces the weight from 10 pounds to 2 pounds. The next clinical trial will extend the time from 24 hours to about a week with a final trial likely involving 8 weeks of treatment, Gura said. The device would be used by the patient 24/7. – by Mark E. Neumann
Reference:
KidneyX Innovators Showcase. Presented at: ASN Kidney Week; Oct. 23-28, 2018; San Diego.
Disclosure: Healio Nephrology was unable to confirm relevant financial disclosures at the time of publication.