In 1954, Merrill and Murray performed a kidney transplant between two identical twins and introduced nephrology into the modern age. The surgery represented a cure for chronic kidney disease by implanting a new functioning kidney into a patient who had irreversible loss of organ function. Over the next decade, Peter Medawar, a British biologist led the discovery of immunosuppressive drugs in the field of nephrology. This has been an area of gradual improvement as safer and more effective drugs are isolated and incorporated into clinical practice. In the 1960s, clinicians began to implement hemodialysis for patients who had end-stage kidney disease on the grounds of the work done by early physicians and biologists. Nephrology practices and divisions grew in size as the field was attractive for young physicians because it combined high level, intellectually challenging clinical work with sophisticated technical expertise.
Today, the evolution in nephrology has reached an all-new level with revolutionary techniques such as the creation of artificial kidneys. Stem cell technology in which the human cells can regenerate the kidney is being researched. Renal adult stem cells may be descendants of some early kidney progenitors, or may be derived from bone marrow. Evidence of a hematopoietic stem-cell contribution to renal repair encourages the possibility of bone marrow or stem cell transplantation. When it comes to surgical equipment, Laparoscopic Nephrectomy is gaining ground in the nephrology space. It is a safe minimal invasive surgical method and helps in the removal of the diseased kidney. The surgery as compared to large incision, which requires traditional open surgery provides good results to patients. Laparoscopic Nephrectomy has benefits such as earlier return to work, a shorter hospital stay and easier return to daily activities. On the technical side, the Kidney Research Institute engineered a kidney tissue chip to predict drug safety. The aim is to design human tissue chips that replicate human organs in order to test drugs in their early stages to see if they will cause complications to the organs. Further, a wearable artificial kidney (WAK) has been granted expedited access pathway by the FDA after the device performed successfully in the clinical trials.
Nephrology is a complex discipline and it is evolving gradually. The high fund of knowledge among specialists is difficult to translate into clinical actions. However, today, nephrology solution providers are dedicated to developing new drugs, devices, and biologics to improve millions of lives affected by kidney diseases. However, choosing the right solutions provider out of the myriad of players in the market often creates a problem for hospitals and medical institutions. In a bid to assist, various top-level decision-makers to identify and choose most advanced companies in the nephrology space, the editorial board of Medtech Outlook has selected a handful of leading nephrology solution providers. We have considered the vendor's ability in delivering solutions, keeping in mind, the factors like the expertise in the domain, skills, competencies, and the impact of their solutions.
We present to you Medtech Outlook's “Top 10 Nephrology Solution Providers -2019."
