Siemens Healthineers, Erlangen, Germany, and Healthy.io, Tel Aviv, have recently announced a global OEM alliance to help patients improve their compliance with chronic kidney disease monitoring.
Christoph Pedain, Siemens Healthineers.
It is estimated that between 8% and 10% of the adult population globally have some form of kidney damage.1 Undetected chronic kidney disease can lead to kidney failure, and also increases a patient’s risk of premature death from associated cardiovascular diseases. For these reasons, regular monitoring is important for improved patient outcomes.
To monitor kidney function, periodic urine testing is traditionally performed in a clinician’s office—a practice that can be time-consuming for patients. The alliance between Siemens and Healthy.io will offer patients a convenient alternative. Under the alliance, Siemens urinalysis reagents will be integrated into Healthy.io’s smartphone-based urinalysis system to provide a home-testing option, enabling the broadest possible access to albumin:creatinine ratio testing.
“Siemens Healthineers has been a leader in urinalysis testing for 75 years, enabling healthcare professionals around the world to test for chronic kidney disease and other conditions from the point of care to the central lab,” says Christoph Pedain, executive vice president for point-of-care diagnostics at Siemens Healthineers. “This alliance expands our capabilities to improve patient experience by conducting testing in their home. Increased access to albumin-to-creatinine ratio testing—whether at home or at the physician’s office—is critical to reducing the economic burden of chronic disease and to improving patient outcomes.”
Yonatan Adiri, Healthy.io.
“Healthy.io is a pioneer in using computer vision and machine learning to transform the smartphone camera into a clinical grade medical device for improved patient access and convenience,” says Yonatan Adiri, founder and CEO of Healthy.io. “Healthy.io and Siemens Healthineers share a vision for a future of healthcare, which sees consumers take greater control of their healthcare in a way that complements the existing clinician workflow.”
For further information, visit Siemens Healthineers and Healthy.io.
Reference
- Chronic Kidney Disease [online]. Brussels: World Kidney Day, 2018. Available at: http://www.worldkidneyday.org/faqs/chronic-kidney-disease. Accessed December 10, 2018.
Featured image: The home-use albumin:creatinine ratio kit by Healthy.io.
