Kidney disease deserves more innovation

It’s time to update our understanding of kidney disease, including reclassification based not simply on loss of kidney function, but by combining kidney pathology with molecular and genetic data writes Franklin Maddux, MD, in Stat News.

Kidney disease is often silent until a sudden and devastating diagnosis. One in seven Americans have chronic kidney disease, and Medicare spends a sixth of its yearly budget on treating the disease each year. However, funding for clinical trials for kidney disease by the National Institutes of Health is lower than almost any other medical specialty. With the current classification for kidney disease being 16 years old, and other major diseases like breast cancer benefiting from new technology such as genetic data, it’s time for us to invest in kidney disease research for life-saving innovations.

To read the full article in Stat News, click here.

Franklin W. Maddux, M.D., is the chief medical officer and executive vice president for clinical and scientific affairs at Fresenius Medical Care North America. FreseniusRx is a division of Fresenius Medical Care.