Session on Collaborating for Innovation to Support KidneyX

Eric Hargan, Deputy Secretary at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) began the second day by sharing HHS’s priorities for kidney care. First, to increase efforts at preventing, detecting, and slowing the progression of kidney diseases. Second, to provide more treatment options to people with kidney failure. Third, to increase the number of transplantable organs and develop wearable and artificial kidneys.

Sandeep Patel, PhD, the HHS Project Director for KidneyX discussed how innovation in the healthcare context is meaningless without patients and how the KidneyX Redesign Dialysis Prize Competition was built on the foundation of the KHI Technology Roadmap for Innovative Approaches to Renal Replacement Therapy.

Emily Levy, the former Head of Fresenius Medical Care Ventures discussed the state of investment in kidney diseases in the venture capital community and encouraged the kidney community to engage venture capitalists to lower barriers of entry into the field.

Larry Soler of Convergency shared the story of the artificial pancreas and the multiyear effort to coordinate industry partners, regulators, payers, congress, and academia to see beyond incremental change and bring an innovative product to market.

Richard Knight, the president of the American Association of Kidney Patients closed the session by urging attendees to think about the people with kidney diseases who are not at meetings like KHI and how we communicate with and inspire them.

Member Showcases highlight the breadth of innovation in the community

New to the meeting this year were breakout sessions with more than two dozen KHI member organizations. KHI is the largest consortia in the kidney community with 103 member organizations. In brief presentations, each organization highlighted how they innovate in the field of kidney diseases. A variety of members presented including large pharma companies, digital health companies, patient organizations, dialysis providers, and biotech startups. 

Captain Richardae Araojo, PharmD, MS, of the FDA shares the importance of diversity in clinical trials

Captain Araojo is the Director of the FDA Office of Minority Health and Health Equity at the FDA. The office’s mission is to create a world where health equity is a reality for all. She shared an overview of her work at the FDA, the agency’s policies to support diverse participation in clinical trials, and outreach strategies to improve diverse participation in clinical trials.

Matthew Diamond, MD, PhD, of the FDA presents on collaborating to use digital health for innovation

Dr. Diamond is a Medical Officer in the Office of Digital Health at the FDA. He discussed the FDA’s response to increasing digitization across the healthcare continuum. He defined digital health technology as the convergence of computing power, connectivity, sensors, and software used in healthcare. He expanded on using digital tools for behavioral health, digital biomarkers and the challenges in regulating this field.

Vivek Bhalla, MD, on advances in wearable technology and lessons from hypertension

Dr. Bhalla discussed the importance of further technology developments for medicine and nephrology. Medical devices are increasingly common. They can be good tools to collect data and assist with decision making. Data collected from mobile devices can be specifically useful in conjunction with other measures. He emphasized that validation and verification are key for wearables and that disruption in kidney care requires moving beyond what patients see today.

Dr. Krishnan closed the meeting with three observations on innovation. First, innovation is clearly defined in the eyes of patients. Second, innovation is never done. Third, hope for increased innovation in kidney diseases is inspired by the commitment of government partners and the members of the KHI community.

Learn more about the Kidney Health Initiative at www.kidneyhealthinitiative.org and follow #kidneyhealthinitiative on social media for news and updates.

Photo: Eric Hargan, Deputy Secretary, US Department of Health and Human Services