Following the announcement that Renalytix AI’s KidneyIntelX™ platform will be used to assess the risk of kidney injury in COVID-19 patients;

Azadeh Laffafian, Medical Device Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view:

“There are multiple reports of acute kidney injury in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Additionally, patients with prior kidney disease are at a higher risk of developing a more severe form of the COVID-19 illness. The demand for dialysis machines, which had a global market value of approximately $2bn in 2019 according to GlobalData, has surged due to the influx of COVID-19 patients.

“Continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) machines used in intensive care unit (ICU) are particularly needed, and at risk of shortages. Other dialysis supplies, in addition to dialysis support staff are also in high demand.

“According to Renalytix AI, its KidneyIntelX platform will be used in a large-scale study called Pred-MAKER (Prediction of Major Adverse Kidney Events and Recovery) by Icahn School of Medicine investigators at Mount Sinai to help assess the risk of major adverse kidney events in COVID-19 patients. The KidneyIntelX platform is expected to aid in predicting the chance of developing kidney disease for each COVID-19 patient based on various indicators such as plasma and urine biomarkers. The Pred-MAKER study has been submitted to the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for approval.”