News Briefs

Relypsa Research Grants Awarded to Three Institutions In a press release in April, Relypsa, a Vifor Pharma Group company, announced the presentation of three research grants to supplement institutional funding for nephrology and/or cardiology fellows who are researching hyperkalemia and other disorders. Alain Romero, PhD, PharmD, Relypsa vice president of medical and scientific affairs, said, “Our research grants aim to ... Read More »

Two-Day Workshop Presents Data on Use of Earlier Markers of CKD Progression In mid-March, the National Kidney Foundation, in collaboration with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA), concluded a scientific workshop to review the results of a major, multi-year meta-analysis designed to examine the “largest compilation of data ever collected on chronic kidney ... Read More »

Cricket Names Danny Shapiro CBO Danny Shapiro has been named chief business officer of Cricket Health, a developer of technology-enabled care solutions for patients with chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease. Mr. Shapiro was most recently chief operating officer of Home Care Assistance and prior to that held the position of vice president at DaVita Kidney Care. In a ... Read More »

LUTONIX® 035 DCB Granted FDA Approval In late August, the US FDA granted premarket approval to the LUTONIX® 035 drug coated balloon (DCB) PTA catheter. The LUTONIX 035 is now available in the United States. In a press release from C.R. Bard, Inc., the manufacturer of the catheter, Timothy M. Ring, chairman and chief executive officer, said, “This approval offers ... Read More »

Veltassa Approved in European Union Market In late July, Relypsa, Inc., announced that Veltassa® (patiromer) received approval from the European Commission for its Marketing Authorization Application. Patiromer is indicated for the treatment of hyperkalemia (elevated levels of blood potassium). Veltassa is the brand name for patiromer in both the United States and Europe; it is approved for marketing in all ... Read More »

KDIGO Issues Updated Guidelines for Treatment of CKD-MBD In late June, the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) updated its Practice Guideline for the Diagnosis, Evaluation, Prevention, and Treatment of Chronic Kidney Disease-Mineral and Bone Disorder (CKD-MBD). The update amends the 2009 KDIGO Clinical Practice Guideline and includes revised positions on standards of care for the treatment of secondary hyperparathyroidism ... Read More »

Fresenius and Humana Announce Model of Care Coordination Fresenius Medical North American (FMCNA) is joining forces with Humana Inc. in a program designed to improve care and outcomes for Humana’s members with end-stage renal disease. FMCNA, operating through its Fresenius Health Partners mantle, will apply its proprietary model of care coordination aimed at enhancing the ability of patients to obtain ... Read More »

Bipartisan Bill to Protect Living Organ Donors Introduced In early March, Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA) introduced the Living Donor Protection Act of 2017. The bill is intended to protect the rights of living organ donors, according to a press release from Mr. Nadler’s office. The act includes three mechanisms to protect donors: (1) prohibition ... Read More »

Real-Time Models Predict Risk of AKI In a study conducted recently among acute kidney injury (AKI) patients at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, researchers found that measuring and accounting for risk factors in real-time worked well for predicting dialysis, death, and length of stay. The strategy worked well whether using a traditional logistic regression model or machine-learning techniques. ... Read More »

Rapid Withdrawal of Steroids Reduces Incidence of Diabetes Post-Transplant Initiation of rapid withdrawal from steroids can reduce the incidence of diabetes after a kidney transplant in immunologically low-risk patients, according to research presented during Kidney Week 2016 by Christian Hugo, MD and colleagues. The research was cited in an article in Medpage Today. The researchers conducted a study among 587 ... Read More »