Nephrolyx: highly precise and rapid detection of kidney diseases
A start-up from Adlershof is supplying modern kidney function tests to more and more clinics and practices all over Europe
Nephrolyx GmbH, a university spin-off from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, has developed a testing kit and a digital platform that enable precise measurement of kidney function (mGFR). This helps detect kidney damage reliably and up to ten times faster.
CEO and founder of Nephrolyx is Bartosz Reinhold, who himself worked at Charité for many years. He explains the difference to conventional methods of kidney function measurement: “Typically, blood is taken, and then one identifies biomarkers in the serum, for example, creatinine, a metabolic by-product. When the kidney’s filter function is bad, this substance builds up. It is then used to estimate the glomerular filtration rate (GFR)—which is the amount of liquid blood components that are filtered by the renal corpuscles in all existing kidneys in a certain period.”
However, these estimates can be off by +/-20 percent, says the expert. Due to the slow accumulation of biomarkers, rapid changes in kidney function, such as acute renal failure, can only be recognised after 24 to 48 hours. The underlying principle of the estimate does not work reliably. In turn, medical professionals are not able to detect how sick their patients really are. Thus, cases of acute kidney failure are often recognised far too late and nephrotoxic drugs, such as those used in chemotherapy, are not optimally dosed.
For this reason, a direct GFR measurement (mGFR) is considered the gold standard by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Patients are given a contrast agent and then blood analysis is used to determine how much of it was filtered out by the kidney. When the nephrology working group was still at Charité, they began to develop a new procedure, which then matured at Nephrolyx into the world's first test, which is accurate, fast and as well as inexpensive.
The test requires only a very small amount of contrast agent. With the ready-to-use testing kit, it only takes three hours until the residual amount in the kidney has been detected in the lab. “At the same time, the labs use our software for analyses,” says Reinhold. All in all, the researchers have spent 12 years working on the topic. The test was approved in May of last year and is now in routine clinical use. The testing kit is also suitable for doctors with a private practice.
The areas of application are far-reaching and include, for example, organ donations. If a mother wants to donate a kidney to her daughter, the filtration capacity must be above a certain value, which must be determined with absolute precision.
Chemotherapy of cancer patients is particularly damaging to the kidneys. Using the test for screening, the medication can be adjusted in a way that helps fight the cancer, while not damaging the kidney to such an extent that the patient requires dialysis later. Reinhold: “Studies have shown that roughly 20 percent of patients continue to be over- and underdosed.”
A third area of application is chronic kidney disease. With regular tests and subsequently prompt and adequate treatment, the time before dialysis or even a donor kidney transplant is needed can be delayed.
The freshly founded company Nephrolyx has been headquartered in Adlershof since March 2022. From biochemists to software developers, all the employees work under very good conditions. The test is being distributed all over Europe under the moniker ‘Nephrolyx IVDx’. Researchers and medical practitioners are raving about the new, quick, and reliable reference method and are speaking of a milestone in renal medicine.
Katrin Reisinger for Adlershof Journal