PYC Therapeutics Ltd. has announced the results of a study of PYC-003 conducted in human 3D models derived from patients with end-stage renal failure due to autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (PKD).
G1 and G2 genetic variants of the human APOL1 gene have been previously associated with an increased risk of developing chronic kidney diseases (CKD) in the African American population, and recent studies have shown that inhibition of APOL1 ion channel function could represent a novel therapeutic strategy for the treatment of patients with APOL1-like nephropathies.
Researchers from Wake Forest University, Charles University and affiliated organizations have found a link between mutations in the APOA4 gene and inherited kidney disease.
Researchers from Taisho Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. have discovered new heparanase-1 (HPSE1) inhibitors for the treatment of cancer and proteinuric kidney diseases.
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the prospective payment rule for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) for calendar year 2024, and advocates had some luck prompting the agency to boost the base ESRD payment rate. However, Atlanta-based Pain Care Labs Inc. came up short in its transitional add-on payment application for the Buzzy Pro for relief of puncture wound site pain because, according to CMS, the device does not represent a substantial improvement over currently available remedies.
United Therapeutics Corp. signed an agreement to acquire Miromatrix Medical Inc. for up to $140 million in cash, buying its way into additional organic growth. The deal would add Miromatrix’s comprehensive portfolio of bio-engineered organs to United’s existing organ production platform.
Seastar Medical Holding Corp. was granted a third breakthrough device designation by the U.S. FDA for its Selective Cytopheretic device (SCD), a biomimetic membrane-based device used to treat patients with acute inflammatory conditions, which can cause organ failure and death. The latest designation is for its use in patients with hepatorenal syndrome. It follows other indications including cardiorenal syndrome and in adults with acute kidney injury (AKI).
African Americans are 10 times more likely to develop chronic kidney disease (CKD) than Americans of European descent in part due to inheritance of one of two high-risk (HR) APOL1 variants (G1/G2, not G0) that are only present in people of West African or Caribbean ancestry. By contrast, these two APOL1 HR variants confer a beneficial resistance to otherwise lethal trypanosomiasis, which is caused by a pathogen endemic to West Africa, but still this ultimately results in a 4-fold increased risk for end-stage kidney disease (ESKD).
Scientists at Egenesis Inc. have transplanted kidneys from genome-edited pigs into cynomolgus monkeys that remained functional for long periods after transplantation. The monkeys, whose own kidneys were removed during the surgery, survived for a median of 176 days after receiving one pig kidney. Maximal survival was just over 2 years. The data were published today in Nature. Egenesis CEO Mike Curtis told reporters that the study has achieved the longest survival to date “using clinically translatable immunosuppression … longer survival has been achieved using really aggressive immunosuppression that really isn’t clinically translatable.”
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