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Acute kidney injury (AKI) is commonly seen in hospitals. It entails the rapid deterioration of kidney function, a high disease burden, and leads in some cases to death. The team at Nephrolytix GmbH, a new spin-off of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, has developed a process with the potential to reduce the time it takes to detect AKI – currently 48 to 72 hours – by 90 percent. The endeavor was funded by Charité BIH Innovation, the joint technology transfer office of Charité and the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH), as part of the BIH Digital Health Accelerator program.
To detect AKI, clinicians measure a series of biomarkers. The results take 48 to 72 hours – a time lag that significantly delays treatment. Now the team of researchers at Nephrolytix, led by Prof. Markus van der Giet of Charité’s Department of Nephrology and Medical Intensive Care, has developed a procedure that can diagnose AKI within the first seven hours – less than a tenth of the standard time. It involves using a database with data from previously recorded cases of AKI, a protocol for measuring contrast agents, and software designed specially by the team. The procedure can be easily integrated anywhere into modern clinical workflows. And considering the low costs involved, it promises a substantial improvement in patient outcomes and the efficiency of the health care system generally.
“Our innovation grew out of a clinical need that we nephrologists experience every day at Charité. It is based on longstanding research whose results we were able to carry over into the Charité spin-off Nephrolytix. This research transfer was only possible thanks to the BIH and its Digital Health Accelerator program,” explains Prof. Markus van der Giet, inventor of the technology and chief medical officer and co-founder of Nephrolytix.
Bartosz Reinhold, CEO and co-founder of Nephrolytix, adds, “Nephrolytix’s aim is to set a new gold standard for kidney function diagnostics that will help millions of patients. To achieve this aim, we are developing products that future doctors around the world will be able to use. Part of Nephrolytix’s goal is thus to enable this scale of impact.”
An example of medical translation from clinical research to patient care
Nephrolytix GmbH is the seventh spin-off produced by the BIH Digital Health Accelerator (DHA) program. Prof. Christopher Baum, Chair of the BIH Board of Directors and Chief Translational Research Officer of Charité, comments: “It is a joy to watch the successful develpoment of our DHA program. On the one hand, it undescores the high potential for medical translation from Charité and the BIH, especially in the realm of digital medicine. On the other hand, it proves the relevance and effectiveness of internal professional funding efforts, such as the BIH DHA and SPARK-BIH programs, for translating new medical innovations into practical applications. In this way, the BIH is fulfilling its mission to ‘turn research into health,’ pursuing a mandate entrusted to it by the German federal governemnt, and making a contribution to society.”
Thomas Gazlig, head of Charité BIH Innovation, where the BIH DHA program is located, adds: “Now the construction of a pipeline for development and transfer projects is visibly bearing fruit. We are working as hard as we can to strengthen this pipeline in the form of our two funding programs.” For in his view, despite the potential for economic success and for reinvesting a significant portion of profits in new development projects, subsidies such as the current special funding provided by the federal government would still be necessary.
Tim Huse, head of the BIH DHA program, adds: “This seventh spin-off from our program represents yet another transfer success story. We would like to share with other university hospitals the approach we have developed and the experience we have gained in order to support the development and success of innovative digital health products and companies throughout Germany.” Such an endeavor, he notes, would require interest on the part of the institutions and the corresponding political will.
More information about the BIH Digital Health Accelerator program is available here.
More information about Nephrolytix is available here.
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About the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH)
The mission of the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH) is medical translation: transferring biomedical research findings into novel approaches to personalized prediction, prevention, diagnostics and therapies and, conversely, using clinical observations to develop new research ideas. The aim is to deliver relevant medical benefits to patients and the population at large. As the translational research unit within Charité, the BIH is also committed to establishing a comprehensive translational ecosystem – one that places emphasis on a system-wide understanding of health and disease and that promotes change in the biomedical translational research culture. The BIH was founded in 2013 and is funded 90 percent by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and 10 percent by the State of Berlin. The founding institutions, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), were independent member entities within the BIH until 2020. Since 2021 the BIH has been integrated into Charité as its so-called third pillar. The MDC is now the Privileged Partner of the BIH.
https://www.bihealth.org/en/notices/new-charite-spin-off-nephrolytix-aims-to-det...
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