Revitalizing Home Hemodialysis

A fter three decades during which the treatment of end-stage renal disease (esRd) has altered very little, things are at last starting to change. And one of the companies driving that change is Alcester, uK-based Quanta Fluid Solutions Ltd., a venture-backed concern that is hoping to make its market debut later this year. Also known as chronic renal failure, esRd occurs when kidney function is below that needed to sustain life. its leading causes are diabetes and hypertension, which between them account for around 70% of cases. African Americans are about three and a half times more likely to develop the condition than caucasians, and hispanics about one and a half times more likely. overall, esRd is more common in individuals aged 70 years or more. According to the centers for disease control and prevention, there were some 300,000 hemodialysis patients in the us in 2011. Worldwide, there were 2.75 million patients with esRd in that year. Fewer than a quarter of esRd patients are currently living with a functioning transplanted kidney. For a long time, the mainstay of esRd treatment, for those patients not fortunate enough to receive a transplant, has been dialysis, of which there are two types: hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. Although the technologies differ in the way they are performed, the principle is the same: waste matter and excess fluid are removed from the circulation by passing the blood over a semi-permeable membrane. in the case of hemodialysis, the blood flows through an external filter that incorporates an artificial membrane, whereas in the case of peritoneal dialysis, the patient’s own peritoneal membrane is pressed into service as the filter. in either case, waste matter is removed from the blood across the membrane by a process of osmosis. currently, approximately 90% of dialysis patients receive hemodialysis. Traditionally, the dialysis market has been dominated by a handful of international companies: Fresenius SE & Co. KGAA of Germany, Baxter International Inc., and Gambro AB (which since last september has been part of Baxter). Fresenius offers a complete line of instrumentation and consumables for chronic dialysis and products specifically targeted at acute and home therapy. Baxter also offers a full line of dialysis products, with an emphasis on peritoneal dialysis, while Gambro’s offering QUANTA FLUID SOLUTIONS: Revitalizing Home Hemodialysis