A molecular blood test that uses biomarkers to detect renal failure following kidney transplants has been launched by Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX). The test could lower healthcare costs tied to kidney transplant failure.
It would help physicians detect kidney failure weeks before other tests or clinical symptoms indicate kidney damage.
The test, using technology licensed from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center — a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital — and Cornell University medical school — Weill Cornell Medical College — is based on RNA genetic markers. Quest Diagnostics in Madison, New Jersey has also formed research and development collaboration agreements in renal transplantation with the two institutions.
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Dr. Terry Strom, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and co-director of the Transplant Institute at BIDMC, said the test has “opened the window to new opportunities for personalized and more effective management of renal graft patients.”
Strom said: “Molecular diagnostics to noninvasively detect and predict renal-transplant rejection, and monitor the efficacy and safety of pharmaceutical drug therapy and treatment withdrawal have the potential to significantly improve treatment and outcomes for renal transplant patients.”
The noninvasive procedure is a safer alternative than a renal biopsy, a procedure that can cause bleeding and graft injury or loss, a statement from the company said.
Dr. Stanley J. Naides of Quest Diagnostics said: “Quest Diagnostics’ new renal monitoring test is an important medical innovation because it has the potential to improve patients’ lives while also helping to reduce the significant expense of failed kidney transplants.”
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Kidneys are the most commonly replaced organ, according to a statement from the company, with 17,000 kidney transplants in 2009 done in the United States.