in the United States Government agency Dedicated to reducing the number of motor vehicle fatalities in the United States, Billions of dollars each year— and we’re asking auto companies to do the same — in an attempt to make our roads and the cars on them safer.
but, More people will die from kidney disease However, concerted efforts to reduce these deaths are lacking. There are things we can do, or do better, to help more people get kidney transplants, but the lack of urgency to address this means that many people needlessly suffer from this disease. means dead.
We spend a lot of money caring for people with end-stage renal disease.More than 500,000 people are currently on dialysis, and the federal government alone spending more than $100 billion annually Medicare provides treatment for people, but life on dialysis is debilitating, making it difficult to work and most other daily activities.
Kidney transplantation is currently the only treatment for patients with end-stage renal disease, but there is a severe shortage of available kidneys. about 25,000 Americans I had a kidney transplant in 2021 and need it Two to three times the number of kidneys to make up for the shortage.
There are currently three different efforts aimed at increasing the amount of available organs. The first is to improve the performance and accountability of the 56 organ procurement agencies. Each agency is assigned to a specific region within the country. These organizations are tasked with procuring kidneys from voluntary donors of deceased or survivors and delivering kidneys to those most in need.
Now their performance varies greatly: in some markets, the kidney procurement rate per death is two or three times Other OPO’s and no clear reason for the disparity. It is not uncommon for organs to be lost during transportation, and software for tracking organs is outdated or non-existent.
A second way to increase kidney availability is to compensate living donors for the costs incurred in the process. The National Organ Transplant Act prohibits people from paying for donations, but the government does not allow transportation to and from hospitals, or compensation for lost wages, childcare, or medical expenses not covered by insurance. I can. One study estimated these costs at an average of $38,000and mitigating them will induce more people to make such life-saving gifts. decree, but the final regulation severely limited its effectiveness, as those with incomes above 350% of the poverty line could not receive reimbursement.
However, significantly improving OPO performance and reforming the cost reimbursement system will not get there.
Fortunately, scientists have begun to make considerable progress in the use of xenografts by creating kidneys suitable for human transplantation in pigs.
Xenotransplantation science uses gene-edited pigs whose kidneys and livers are bred for human transplantation. If successful, this could lead to a plentiful supply of organs for transplantation in the next decade or two.
Addressing the scarcity of available organs is not the only advantage of xenotransplantation science. Gene editing has been used to modify donor animals to eliminate antigen blockers. This could dramatically reduce the immune response in humans and spare transplant recipients from taking autoimmune drugs. Such results dramatically improve health status and reduce long-term care costs.
US-based Makana Therapeutics recently received a European patent for pigs employing this gene-editing technology. Makana Therapeutics founder Joe Tector, a transplant surgeon, is in talks with the US FDA to initiate the first human clinical trial through the Miami Transplant Institute.
More than 500,000 people in the United States are currently on dialysis. 100,000 Currently awaiting porting. Figuring out how to solve this kidney shortage should be a very urgent matter, but after spending a decade on the problem, I can tell you that very few people in government feel that way.
Addressing this shortage not only saves tens of thousands of lives each year, it also saves governments. tens of billions of dollarsIt is our duty to hasten the resolution of this terrible problem by supporting every effort to win more kidneys.
