New Charité spin-off Nephrolytix aims to detect acute kidney injury ten times faster

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.”

MEDICA-tradefair.com; Source: Berlin Institute of Health in der Charité (BIH)