Take Action to Accelerate Artificial Kidney Development

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We need your help to secure the $200 million KidneyX Artificial Kidney Prize to address challenges facing people with kidney diseases during the pandemic.

According to Medicare claims data, kidney patients are the most at-risk group among beneficiaries for COVID-19. COVID-19 patients with kidney diseases are 2.5-times more likely to be hospitalized or face other adverse outcomes, including death, from the virus.

Growing evidence suggests that COVID-19 causes kidney injury in patients with otherwise healthy kidney function, further stressing the kidney health system.

COVID-19 has created a new sense of urgency to accelerate the development of an artificial kidney—work that is already underway through KidneyX—and deliver it to patients as quickly as possible, much as the US is investing in bringing a COVID-19 vaccine to market rapidly.

An artificial kidney would enable more patients to safely receive the care they need at home while maintaining a higher quality of life. An artificial kidney would mitigate challenges posed by the current pandemic and make our kidney health system more resilient to future crises such as pandemics or natural disasters.

With appropriate support, multiple artificial kidney technologies could be ready for human in-person clinical trials within 4 years.

Your legislators need to hear from you as a constituent about the risks COVID-19 poses to kidney patients and that investing $200 million to develop an artificial kidney is critical for the health of this vulnerable population.

Click the link below to send a pre-composed email to your members of Congress. https://www.asn-online.org/policy/lac.aspx?ID=24

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