Renal Solutions & IBT in Kidney replacement pact pact
This article was originally published in Clinica
Renal Solutions and Innovative BioTherapies (IBT) have teamed up to develop a wearable kidney replacement device.
The companies will investigate how Warrendale, Pennsylvania-based Renal Solutions' Allient Sorbent Haemodialysis system - which uses six litres of water to deliver a full dialysis treatment - can be combined with IBT's kidney stem cell technologies. "The low water requirement of RSI's dialysis technology combined with renal cells makes the prospect of a portable, wearable bioartificial kidney for full renal replacement therapy feasible," said David Humes, president of IBT.
IBT, a technology transfer company for the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, is responsible for developing the renal tubule assist device (RAD). The device is filled with living renal proximal tubule cells, grown in the lab from salvaged adult stem cells taken from unusable donor kidneys. In phase II trials in late 2005, the RAD was shown to reduce 28-day mortality from 61 to 34%.