Within the next six months, B. Braun also plans to introduce a new dialyzer product line with enhanced performance characteristics.

Another OEM, Gambro, recently introduced its brand new dialyzer to the market - the Polyflux Revaclear.


“We invested in a whole new plant in Alabama that we opened for the purpose [of developing the dialyzer],” says Jacky Devergne, the company’s marketing manager. “We changed the technology of the dialyzer and we changed the manufacturing processes – pretty much everything we could to go beyond simply optimizing the product.”

The dialyzer features a brand new Poracton membrane, a redesigned header and improved blood and dialysate flow paths. The new header ensures that every fiber is surrounded by dialysate, preventing channeling or dead spaces that may cause clotting or reduce the effective surface area.

Devergne says the new dialyzer has been a success for Gambro and well received by customers.

Baxter set on home dialysis
In the new ESRD PPS, CMS created a home or self-care dialysis training payment adjustment for facilities certified to provide home dialysis training, a step in the right direction in the eyes of home dialysis advocates. Baxter’s Shader said the decision levels “the playing field among home and in-center therapies,” and thus provides support for this treatment option for both clinicians and patients.

“By clearly recognizing the role that home dialysis, and specifically peritoneal dialysis, can provide in the delivery of high-quality dialysis care at lower overall system costs, we expect the bundle to have a positive impact on patient and provider choice, and on utilization of peritoneal dialysis for patients with end-stage renal disease,” said Shader.

Peritoneal dialysis patients make up about 8 percent of the U.S. market, significantly lower than in other parts of the world. For example, in Denmark, Norway and Canada, approximately 20 percent of patients are on PD. Recent studies in the American Journal of Kidney Disease and Kidney International suggest that approximately 80 percent of dialysis patients are clinically eligible to perform PD at home, said Shader.

In partnership with DEKA Research and Development Corporation, Baxter is working on developing home therapy options “aimed at employing a compact design and convenient use for patients, such as a new automated PD cycler and home hemodialysis technology platform,” said Shader.

Pending regulatory approval, Baxter anticipates the launch of these products in the U.S. within the next few years.

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