GenoMed to receive patent for kidney drug

The US patent office has allowed GenoMed’s claims to use an existing drug for an alternative use. A full patent is anticipated to arrive in the near future, perhaps as soon as in six weeks time.

Currently, patients with acute kidney failure are placed on a kidney machine in a hospital until their own kidney function improves. The older a person is, the less likely their kidneys are to recover, and the longer the patient has to stay on kidney dialysis. Acute kidney failure carries a 50% risk of dying and involves a long and expensive hospitalization.

GenoMed’s treatment makes use of an already existing, generic drug to promote recovery of kidney function, usually within 24 hours. In pilot studies, more than 70% of adults, including those with hepatorenal syndrome, and newborns have been spared kidney dialysis. A larger trial recruiting around 100 patients is currently being planned for publication.

GenoMed believes its treatment is ideal where access to kidney dialysis is scarce, e.g. after an earthquake, on the battlefield, or in the Third World. First World countries interested in cutting healthcare costs and improving the atrocious mortality of acute renal failure might also be interested in GenoMed’s approach.