PeritoneX® technology aims to improve health equity and access to home dialysis
NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) today announced the latest investment from its Innovation Fund, the philanthropic impact investment program of NKF. Relavo, a female-founded company dedicated to making home dialysis more accessible, will receive an investment to further develop its PeritoneX® technology to make peritoneal dialysis (PD) safer for patients.
PD is a form of treatment for kidney failure. It allows patients to receive treatment daily from the comfort of their own homes instead of spending 15-20 hours a week in a dialysis clinic. There are quality-of-life advantages to PD versus in-center dialysis including lower cost, more time dialyzing yielding better results, and the treatment is less of an obstacle to employment. However, PD is under-utilized as a treatment – only 10% of patients with kidney failure receive PD treatment. A major reason for this is the risk of infection.
“Fear of infection during PD has been the largest barrier to expanded utilization of PD,” said Kevin Longino, chief executive officer of NKF and a kidney transplant recipient. “We believe this technology will help address those fears and improve health equity. PeritoneX® aims to expand access to home dialysis for more patients, especially those with limited access to transportation, or those patients in rural communities who travel long distances to dialysis centers.”