The Mayo Clinic and the dialysis equipment specialist Baxter International will work together on treatments for a range of conditions, starting with kidney disease.
Fourteen percent of Americans have chronic kidney disease, according to the National Institutes of Health. More than 661,000 have experienced kidney failure that has led to 193,000 having kidney transplants and 468,000 going on dialysis.
Nearly half of those whose kidneys have failed have one or both of the main causes of chronic kidney disease: diabetes and cardiovascular illness.
The partnership will meld the Mayo Clinic’s renowned expertise in patient treatment, research and medical education with Baxter’s experience in developing kidney-care and hospital equipment. The collaboration will run for five years, with an option to renew for five.
A major focus of the collaboration will be developing breakthrough treatments, the partners said.
“We are excited about combining Mayo’s clinical and research expertise with Baxter’s ability to apply and scale innovation,” Gianrico Farrugia, a Mayo Clinic vice president, said in a press release.
Farrugia is also CEO of Mayo Clinic’s Jacksonville, Florida, operation, where the initial collaboration with Baxter will begin. “We are confident that this collaboration will help accelerate discoveries, development and application of life-changing therapies for patients,” Farrugia said.
“Baxter is pleased to work with Mayo Clinic, a world-renowned health care organization that shares Baxter’s passion for advancing patient-focused innovation,” said Baxter Chairman José Almeida. “The combined power of our two organizations will help us advance new solutions to the most pressing health care challenges, further delivering on Baxter’s mission to save and sustain lives.”
Baxter has two international business units: Renal, or kidney care, and hospital products. The renal unit offers products and therapies for medical-facility and home dialysis, kidney transplants, and multi-organ failure. The hospital unit offers products for delivering fluids and therapies. They include IV equipment; devices that deliver inhaled therapies; and infusion pumps, which pump treatments into the bloodstream.