Medical science has managed to conquer various sufferings of humankind and when we talk of bioengineered medical devices, the name of bioartificial kidney automatically comes to the mind. According to an estimate, about 400 thousand people do have kidney problem in US alone that requires dialysis at least once in a week. At the same time, there are about 120,000 people suffering from severe renal failure and by now, they are very dependent on dialysis but the advent of cell-based treatments may bring in new ray of hope for such patients whose life is not less than a wreck.
Bioartificial kidney actually helps blood to pass through a cartridge of human kidney cells and various clinical trials have evinced that the use of bioartificial kidney may play an important role in elongating the lifespan of a patient. However, turning a successful academic invention into a mass produced medical devices is the biggest challenge before the scientists and only time will tell how far they manage to solve it.
In the words of David Humes, who is an internist at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, and the Creator of the device: ‘The question is how do you turn 100 donated kidneys into 100,000 devices?’
The fundamental reason behind the fact that makes it so challenging is that cells function in a very strange way and it is very difficult to predict precisely on the way they actually work in. Therefore, it becomes very difficult for scientists to lean on a particular method to sprout out specific type of cell. I think this is the biggest stint in the way of the scientists to develop cell-based treatments. And it would not be wrong to say that this is the main reason why, despite a big demand for such replacement organs, only a few companies have entered the arena to bring out tissue-engineered therapies. However, the efforts of the company RenaMed are really praiseworthy which is determined to bring out bio-artificial kidneys commercially but still it has no other option but to wait for the approval from Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
I think if FDA gives consent to RenaMed, it will surely open doors for great and positive possibilities. Moreover, as technology is marching ahead, it is becoming more and more imperative to arm medical science too with latest finds sprouting out in the field of technology. Let’s wrap up with the following words of Michael Lysaght, who is a tissue engineer at Brown University in Providence, RI: Everyone is hoping it will be a big success.
Image credit: mcg.edu
Via: technologyreview