IVIVA Medical, a pioneering biotech startup led by Harvard College Professor and Thoracic Surgeon Harald Ott, has gained a Section 2 KidneyX Prize. The Kidney Innovation Accelerator awarded the prize, a collaborative initiative between the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) and the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Providers (HHS).

Due to its groundbreaking work in creating a completely implantable bioartificial kidney made with proprietary 3D printing expertise, IVIVA Medical will obtain $1 million to proceed its analysis and improvement of cell-based dwelling therapeutics that substitute the kidney’s most important capabilities.

IVIVA Medical has made a monumental stride within the subject of organ alternative with its improvement of human-scale solute-exchange grafts. By utilizing cutting-edge 3D printing expertise, IVIVA creates finely separated hole vascular networks. These networks are then methodically layered to assemble a matrix that matches the dimensions of human organs. In line with the corporate, this intricately designed matrix is populated with numerous varieties of cells, which then grow to be purposeful tissue. The tip product is a complicated, human-scale solute-exchange graft that may successfully replicate organ perform, paving the way in which for important developments in organ therapeutics.

Renal Care

Typically referred to as “silent killers,” kidney ailments are a rising international well being subject usually linked to underlying situations like diabetes, hypertension, and weight problems. Within the U.S., the excessive price of remedy, over $100 billion yearly, is attributed to costly procedures like dialysis and kidney transplantation. Medicare spent roughly $81 billion on individuals with power kidney illness (CKD) and an extra $36 billion on end-stage renal illness remedy in 2018 alone.

Extra importantly, the lengthy look forward to a kidney transplant—over 100,000 individuals are on the U.S. transplant checklist, however solely about 20,000 transplants are carried out annually—underscores the pressing want for improvements like IVIVA Medical’s bioartificial kidney. Sufferers sometimes spend a median of 5 years or extra on transplant waitlists, with many tragically dying earlier than receiving surgical procedure. As an alternative, IVIVA Medical goals to revolutionize this situation by creating absolutely implantable bioartificial organs, offering a possible treatment and an opportunity at a standard life for sufferers with organ dysfunction.

“Sufferers with renal failure expertise not solely the influence of their illness but additionally the inevitable unintended effects of current therapies as a result of transplant organs are solely accessible for just a few fortunate recipients,” remarked IVIVA Medical Founder and CEO Harald Ott. “We’re working to rework organ alternative. As a result of we construct these implants from patient-derived cells, there shall be no want for long-term immunosuppression, no danger for rejection, and no donor organ scarcity.”

As a famend thoracic surgeon at Massachusetts Common Hospital and an Affiliate Professor in Surgical procedure at Harvard Medical Faculty, Ott has a novel perspective and profound curiosity in regenerative medication and stem cell remedy. Having based IVIVA eight years in the past, Ott is devoted to discovering an answer for end-stage renal illness.

Harald Ott, founder and CEO of IVIVA Medical and Affiliate Professor in Surgical procedure. Picture courtesy of IVIVA Medical.

Creating a completely purposeful bioartificial kidney has been difficult because of the organ’s complexity, which consists of quite a few cell sorts and liable for a number of important capabilities. Nonetheless, the KidneyX prize gives IVIVA the assets to advance its expertise as the corporate continues its quest to resolve the organ transplant scarcity.

“Kidney ailments are frequent, critical, and lethal. Individuals with kidney ailments have demanded revolutionary remedy applied sciences and administration methods to exchange dialysis,” commented John R. Sedor, a nephrologist with the Cleveland Clinic and KidneyX Steering Committee Chair. “The Synthetic Kidney Prize Section 2 winners spotlight paradigm-shifting options in xenotranplantation and regenerative medication which can be being developed to cut back the burdens of kidney illness.”

Echoing these sentiments, U.S. Assistant Secretary for Well being Rachel L. Levine added, “HHS is worked up and stays dedicated to the partnership and to advancing kidney care. With the shut of the Synthetic Kidney Prize Section 2, I couldn’t be extra thrilled to congratulate the winners of the competitors. This prize competitors leads us to the subsequent steps for developments and options in synthetic kidney developments.”

Engineered ten-layer renal scaffold. Picture courtesy of IVIVA Medical.

Section 2 KidneyX Prize serves as a platform to expedite progress inside the regenerative medication, mobile engineering, tissue engineering, techniques biology, and artificial biology communities, concentrating on superior analysis and improvement levels for a man-made kidney. This part, spotlighting tasks past preliminary proof-of-concept and heading in direction of bigger research or commercialization, gives a $1 million catalyst for winners like IVIVA Medical. The startup’s victory not solely propels revolutionary work but additionally represents a beacon of hope for thousands and thousands worldwide troubled with kidney ailments, signaling a possible paradigm shift in renal failure remedy.