Early Risk Identification at Core of Innovative Kidney Care Partnership Between Renalytix, DaVita

First-of-its-kind program combines early risk assessment of kidney decline and comprehensive care management to help slow kidney disease progression, improve care coordination and reduce costs

NEW YORK, Jan. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kidney care innovators Renalytix AI (NASDAQ:RNLX, LSE:RENX) and DaVita (NYSE: DVA) are partnering on a program aimed at slowing disease progression and improving health outcomes for the nation’s estimated 37 million adults with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The program is expected to improve patient outcomes and provide meaningful cost reductions for health care providers and payors by enabling earlier intervention for patients with early-stage kidney disease (stages 1, 2 and 3) through actionable risk assessments and end-to-end care management.

The collaboration is expected to launch in three major markets this year. As the program expands, DaVita and RenalytixAI intend to pursue risk-sharing arrangements with health care providers and payors to drive kidney disease patient care innovation, cost efficiencies and improve quality of life.

“Almost 50% of people whose kidneys fail find out after it is too late, and we are on a mission to change that,” said Javier Rodriguez, Chief Executive Officer for DaVita. “Our partnership with RenalytixAI could allow us to help slow disease progression for the millions of people living with kidney disease.”

“This is the first clinical-grade program that delivers advanced early-stage prognosis and risk stratification, combined with actionable care management right to the primary care level where the majority of kidney disease patients are being seen,” said James McCullough, Renalytix AI Chief Executive Officer. “Making fundamental change in kidney disease health economics and outcomes must begin with providing a clear, actionable understanding of disease progression risk.”

The program utilizes the KidneyIntelX in vitro diagnostic platform from RenalytixAI, which uses a machine learning algorithm to assess a combination of biomarkers from a simple blood draw with features from the electronic health record to generate a patient-specific risk score. The initial version of the KidneyIntelX risk score identifies Type 2 diabetic patients with early-stage CKD as low-, intermediate- or high-risk for progressive decline in kidney function or kidney failure. The integrated program may also help reduce kidney disease misclassification, which leaves some higher-risk patients without recommended treatment. The expected outcome of the collaboration will also be used to expand indicated use claims for KidneyIntelX.