IVIVA Medical
IVIVA Medical, a biotech startup that develops living therapeutics to cure patients with organ failure, has own a Phase 2 KidneyX Prize from the Kidney Innovation Accelerator, a public-private partnership between the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) and the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), for its work in developing a fully implantable bioartificial kidney that was created with 3D printing.
As part of the prize, IVIVA will be awarded 1 million USD to advance its research and develop cell-based living therapeutics that replace the kidney’s most essential functions. According to IVIVA, 850 million people worldwide have kidney diseases, and around 37 million of Americans. In the US, the treatment costs over 100 billion USD a year says the company.
IVIVA says that management and maintenance therapies for kidney disease are ongoing, expensive, and often undermine the person’s quality of life, the only hope being an organ transplant. According to the company, a shortage of available organs causes patients to spend an average of five or more years on the waitlist, and many die before receiving surgery.
IVIVIA Medical is working to develop implantable bioartificial organs that can offer patients with organ disfunctions a cure and a normal life.
“Patients with renal failure experience not only the impact of their disease but the inevitable side effects of existing treatments because transplant organs are only available for a few lucky recipients. We’re working to transform organ replacement. Because we build these implants from patient-derived cells, there will be no need for long-term immunosuppression, no risk for rejection, and no donor organ shortage,” said IVIVA Medical Founder and CEO Harald Ott.
Ott added: “We are excited to join the KidneyX community and are grateful for the support of the Department of Health and Human Services and the American Society of Nephrology. Receiving one of the KidneyX awards will help us to mature our technology and improve patients’ lives.”
IVIVA says that the development of a fully functional bioartificial kidney has proven difficult because of the complexity of the organ, which is made up of multiple cell types and performs important functions. With the receipt of the KidneyX prize, IVIVA will be able to advance its technology and address organ transplant shortages.
John R. Sedor, MD, FASN, KidneyX Steering Committee Chair said: “Kidney diseases are common, serious, and deadly. People with kidney diseases have demanded innovative treatment technologies and management strategies to replace dialysis, which has changed slowly and incrementally over 50 years. The nephrology scientific community has responded with a pipeline of discoveries that promise to revolutionise kidney care. The Artifical Kidney Prize Phase 2 winners highlight paradigm-shifting solutions in xenotransplantation and regenerative medicine that are being developed to reduce the burdens of kidney disease.”
In March 2023, the University of New South Wales Sydney developed a prototype device that can directly 3D print living cells onto internal organs, and has the potential to be used as an all-in-one endoscopic surgical tool.
