Awak Technologies Pte Ltd. raised more than $20 million in a series B round that will position the company to potentially transform the management of chronic kidney disease with its wearable and portable peritoneal dialysis (PD) device designed to enable patients with end-stage kidney disease to have dialysis on the go.
Medalliance SA reported completion of patient enrollment in the SAVE clinical trial with its Selution SLR 018 drug-eluting balloon. Eighty-four subjects have been recruited for this prospective multi-center, single-blinded, randomized controlled trial. These patients received either standard high-pressure balloon angioplasty followed by local application of Selution SLR, or else high-pressure balloon angioplasty with no further lesion treatment.
Mediwhale Inc. and Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea, are developing a new predicting tool combining artificial intelligence (AI) and non-invasive retinal eye examination capable of accurately predicting chronic kidney diseases before symptoms appears.
Terumo Blood and Cell Technologies (Terumo BCT) is teaming up with Eliaz Therapeutics Inc. to develop and commercialize a new type of apheresis treatment for acute kidney injury (AKI) and sepsis-induced acute kidney injury (S-AKI). The exclusive collaboration aims to reduce long-term morbidity and death in patients with AKIs by removing an upstream inflammatory protein called Galectin-3 (Gal-3) from blood plasma.
The U.S. FDA handed good news to Healthy IO Ltd. (Healthy.io) with 510(k) clearance for its smartphone-based Minuteful Kidney test, making kidney function testing – from sample to result – possible at home. The app calculates the albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR), a key indicator of kidney disease. By enabling people to complete the test using their phones, the company says it has increased the rate of testing in high-risk patients by 50%.
Calyxo Inc. cleaned up with a $32.7 million series C financing round to support further development of the Cvac system for kidney stones. Questa Capital and CRG led the round, which brought the company’s total funds raised to $47.2 million.
A tissue engineered polymer wrap designed to reduce vein graft failure rates in patients on hemodialysis for chronic kidney disease (CKD) has won FDA breakthrough device designation. Developed by Houston-based Venostent Inc., the Selfwrap bioabsorbable perivascular wrap is macroporous material that wraps around blood vessels and acts as a scaffold to ensure veins and arteries work together seamlessly to filter out toxins in the patient’s blood.
Xeltis BV plans to expedite an international pivotal trial investigating its restorative hemodialysis access graft Axess following encouraging preliminary data. The company released results from a clinical trial investigating the graft at CX 2022, the Charing Cross International Symposium on Vascular and Endovascular Challenges, in London. Data showed the graft had 100% functional patency and safety in a patient cohort of 11, with a median follow-up of 6.5 months.
Cardiorenal is advancing a digital solution for chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients with a new seed investment. The Grenoble, France-based startup’s product Tenor attracted $3.7 million from investors to secure regulatory clearance in the U.S. and Europe.
Japanese researchers have created complex 3D kidney organoids that could lead the way to better kidney research and even artificial kidneys for human transplant.