Girish N. Nadkarni, MD, left, and Steven G. Coca, DO
Steven G. Coca, DO, and Girish N. Nadkarni, MD, nephrologists in the Samuel Bronfman Department of Medicine at the Mount Sinai Health System, have invented an artificial intelligence-based prognostic scoring system that is designed to identify patients at high risk for developing progressive kidney disease.
The pioneering product, KidneyTrack™, will enable medical professionals to intervene early in a patient’s disease cycle when treatment is most effective, before kidney disease advances to kidney failure, which requires dialysis. KidneyTrack combines data from the electronic medical record, with genetic information and novel blood biomarkers, and is paired with suggestions for optimized preventive treatment and management options for patients, particularly those at early stages of kidney disease.
To commercialize KidneyTrack, Mount Sinai Innovation Partners, in collaboration with Drs. Coca and Nadkarni, entered into a partnership agreement with RenalytixAI, Plc. The partnership will leverage Mount Sinai’s data warehouse, which contains more than 3 million patient health records and 43,000 patient records in its BioMe™ Biobank repository. KidneyTrack, which will enable clinicians to continuously monitor and identify patients in the Mount Sinai Health System who are at risk for progressive kidney disease and dialysis, will be tested for its clinical utility in a multicenter study beginning in mid-2019.
Barbara Murphy, MD, Chair of the Samuel Bronfman Department of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, will serve as Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of RenalytixAI. Along with Drs. Coca and Nadkarni, Judy H. Cho, MD, Director of the Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine, and John Cijiang He, MD, PhD, Chief, Division of Nephrology, also will serve on the Scientific Advisory Board.
Diabetes and high blood pressure are the leading causes of kidney failure. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimates that the United States spends approximately $34 billion to treat kidney failure. The National Kidney Foundation reports more than 500,000 patients are being treated with dialysis for the disease.
“There is a general lack of awareness on the part of patients and health care providers regarding chronic kidney disease and there hasn’t been enough focus on and resources in preventing it,” says Dr. Coca, Associate Professor of Medicine (Nephrology), Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “Both the providers and the patients themselves will receive updates on their risk score generated by KidneyTrack, which will serve to increase awareness and motivation for behavioral change and management strategies.”
Adds Dr. Nadkarni, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Nephrology), Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Clinical Director of the Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine, “Using comprehensive data from so many patients will make a difference in people’s lives. Now we can look at associations and relationships that were not possible before at this scale and change the paradigm.”
Initially, KidneyTrack will focus on patients with type 2 diabetes and those of African ancestry. Data generated from this will potentially be useful in analyzing other groups of patients at risk for progressive kidney disease.
“This new technology has the potential to help patients with renal disease on a global basis and may support the development of additional applications for monitoring individuals with other chronic diseases,” says Erik Lium, PhD, Executive Vice President of Mount Sinai Innovation Partners.