Press Releases

• New tool identifies patients with type-2 diabetes at high risk of impaired kidney function.
• Clinicians can use the tool to better target CKD screening resources, and initiate preventative treatment earlier.
• Early treatment of kidney disease significantly reduces the risk of kidney failure and death.

Diabetes technology innovator Gendius has presented research on its new data-driven tool to identify type-2 diabetes patients at higher risk of having reduced kidney function at the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) conference. Gendius has developed its tool to help identify patients with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) earlier, by enabling healthcare systems to target CKD screening to those at highest risk.

Gendius’ data science model, which powers the predictive tool, was applied to AstraZeneca’s observational iCaReMe registry data covering 21 countries in 6 regions globally from 2018. The results of this validation show that the tool remained effective across global regions; by using the tool to risk-stratify patients, they were able to reduce the population by 43.1% whilst still detecting over 80% of those with reduced kidney function.

By identifying this subgroup of patients, healthcare professionals can prioritise patients appropriately for screening. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines for diabetes patients recommend CKD screening every 12 months. However, annual screening is not always possible. In healthcare systems where large groups of patients have not been screened over 12 months, Gendius’ tool could be used to target those patients at greatest need.

This is increasingly important as healthcare systems across the world are experiencing increased pressure on services, exacerbated by COVID-19, and have large screening and treatment backlogs. Conducting prioritised screening in these settings and where resources are limited may be necessary to avoid unmanaged kidney function decline.

Susana Goncalves, CVRM Medical Director, AstraZeneca International, said, “We are very happy to have been able to establish the innovation partnership with Gendius to work towards increasing early diagnosis for CKD, one of our key priority areas. The findings suggest that Gendius’ cutting-edge, affordable and sustainable technology could enable a far more targeted and cost efficient approach to screening people with diabetes for CKD.”

Gendius CEO, Rory Cameron, commented, “It is exciting to be able to share these promising results at a US conference for the first time. Our hope is that our models could be used to better target chronic kidney disease screening within people living with type-2 diabetes, especially in the US, where healthcare costs are so high, screening resources need to be carefully managed particularly for those on Medicare and Medicaid. Gendius is really leading the way in a personalised risk prediction approach to managing diabetes, and we see this as the future of chronic disease management.”

Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure across the world, and in the US approximately one in three adults with diabetes have CKD. Early diagnosis and identifying risk factors is key for controlling CKD: if the condition is recognised early, its progression can be effectively slowed down[1]. New treatments for patients with CKD are now widely available, including Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors, which have been shown to effectively slow the progression of CKD, and lower the risk of kidney failure and death in people with kidney disease and type 2 diabetes[2].

The full abstract can be accessed on the ASN conference website here.