HHS Announces Winners of the $7.25 Million KidneyX Sustainability Prize

Prizes for innovations to reduce water or power used during dialysis

Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced seven winners of the KidneyX Sustainability Prize, designed to incentivize development of solutions to reduce water or power usage during dialysis care.

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.

“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,” said Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Rachel L. Levine, MD.

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.

HHS congratulates 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 KidneyXSustainabilityprize.com, KidneyX.org, and hhs.gov/ash/osm/innovationx/kidneyx.

About KidneyX
The Kidney Innovation Accelerator (KidneyX) is a public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) to accelerate innovation in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of kidney diseases. For more information, visit kidneyx.org.

About the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
HHS enhances and protects the health and well-being of all Americans. HHS fulfills that mission by providing for effective health and human services and by fostering sound, sustained advances in the sciences underlying medicine, public health, and social services. The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) focused the priority of this KidneyX challenge on the sustainability of kidney care in alignment with parallel efforts to enhance the sustainability of health care that the HHS/OASH Office of Climate Change and Health Equity is leading. For more information, visit hhs.gov.

About the American Society of Nephrology
Since 1966, ASN has been leading the fight to prevent, treat, and cure kidney diseases throughout the world by educating health professionals and scientists, advancing research and innovation, communicating new knowledge and advocating for the highest quality care for patients. ASN has nearly 22,000 members representing 141 countries. For more information, visit asn-online.org.