The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced seven winners of the KidneyX Sustainability Prize, designed to incentivize development of solutions to reduce water or power usage during dialysis care.
“Now through the KidneyX Sustainability Prize, we’re seizing the opportunity to transform outcomes for patients—by identifying and supporting solutions to reduce the resource demands of dialysis.”
— Admiral Rachel L. Levine, MD., Assistant Secretary for Health
Today’s life-sustaining dialysis technology is facing growing concerns due to its substantial consumption of water and energy, putting patients at risk in areas experiencing resource shortages. Globally, hemodialysis requires billions of liters of water and kilowatt hours of power each year. Up to 70% of the water is rejected during filtration, further straining limited resources.
The KidneyX Sustainability Prize aims to seize opportunities for sustainability by identifying and supporting solutions to reduce the resource demands of maintenance dialysis. Sustainability challenges resulting from the treatment of kidney diseases present opportunities for innovation and collaboration across the dialysis ecosystem. This prize is the latest initiative from the KidneyX Innovation Accelerator (KidneyX), a public-private partnership between HHS and the American Society of Nephrology (ASN).
While long-term therapies like artificial kidneys and regenerative cell therapies hold promise for the future, hundreds of thousands of Americans living with kidney failure today urgently need solutions that address the kidney care system’s vulnerability in the short term. Current dialysis technology, both in care facilities and at home, consumes large amounts of water and power. As water and power resources become scarcer—due to more persistent water and power shortages and acute disasters—patients’ lives will be at risk.
Meet the teams
Congratulations to the winners of the KidneyX Sustainability Prize, who will each receive an equal share of the $7.25 million prize purse:
- Kuleana Technology Inc. Advancing Hemodialysis Sustainability: Dialysate Regeneration via Uremic Toxin Photo-Oxidation. “Kuleana Technology’s Dialysate Regeneration Module enables hemodialysis with just 2 liters of water per treatment, making dialysis portable and accessible while saving 300 billion liters of water per year worldwide.”
- Micro Nano Technologies Inc. Handheld Water-Free and Battery-Powered Renal Replacement System. “The proposed technology mimics kidney filtration, eliminating the need for water and operating on a laptop-sized battery for 8 hours, ensuring dialysis access during disasters without traditional infrastructure.”
- Particle4X. SMART-PD: Sustainable Home Dialysis Revolution. “SMART-PD is an advanced home dialysis system that produces sterile PD fluid from tap water, reclaims effluent, and employs AI-powered monitoring to enhance sustainability and patient safety.”
- Qidni Labs Inc. Qidni/D: A Novel Sorbent Platform for Dialysis. “The Qidni/D is a portable and nearly waterless hemodialysis system that can offer accessible and sustainable access to care anywhere.”
- Stephen Ash. Sorbent Regeneration of Dialysate with Improved Ammonium Capacity. “We have developed a sorbent with high capacity for NH4+ (from urea) and minimal binding of Ca++ and Mg++, which should make regeneration of dialysate simpler, smaller and more practical.”
- University of Minnesota. Decentralized Dialysis Fluid Production: Enhancing the Sustainability of Dialysis Care. “Our innovation enables decentralized production of peritoneal dialysis fluids, reducing dialysis energy and water consumption by 48% and 66%, respectively, increasing supply chain resilience, and improving patient outcomes worldwide.”
- Wearable Artificial Organs Inc. Green dialysis on batteries using only 300ml of water. “A 2 lb. miniaturized Wearable Artificial Kidney (WAK) powered by rechargeable batteries, continuously regenerates dialysate water and delivers continuous dialysis 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”
The prize invited proposals from a diverse community of innovators—including patients, health care providers, engineers, and entrepreneurs. Solutions involved technological or process approaches, and HHS invited members of all disciplines and sectors to develop solutions that reduce water or power usage during dialysis and promote equitable access to care.
To learn more and receive future updates, please visit KidneyX.org and hhs.gov/ash/osm/innovationx/kidneyx.