IIT-B Chemical Engineers Bring Dialysis Cost & Time 50% Down!

The chemical engineering department at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) has achieved a breakthrough that promises to bring the cost and time involved in dialysis procedures down by 50%. The process of dialysis involves removal of excess water and waste from blood in people who are suffering chronic kidney failure. The process is costly and painful for the patients, often requiring filters that cost anywhere between Rs. 600 to Rs. 1000 per treatment.

A team of scientists and researchers from IIT-B have developed a special type of a membrane that not only safer, but opens avenues for portable dialysers. It's a hollow fiber membrane that has cleared the laboratory tests successfully and now awaits clinical trials. Jayesh Bellare, the team lead for the research informed that the new membrane has been developed using a special material and promises faster and efficient removal of impurities from the blood.

IIT-Bombay-Dialysis
Image Credit: BKFINDIA​

The team hopes that their invention will be available for use in the next three years. It's expected that the research done by the team will help in development of bio-artificial organs that functions as a kidney or liver. Read more about the research on the source link below.

Source: IIT-B breakthrough may cut dialysis cost by half | India News - Times of India

Replies

  • Sarathkumar Chandrasekaran
    Sarathkumar Chandrasekaran
    Wish it reaches patients quick.Dialysis is bit costly to many people.So this would be definitely a great improvement.
  • micheal john
    micheal john
    Wow
  • Ramani Aswath
    Ramani Aswath
    The road from the lab to general clinical use is long and bumpy, often with dead ends as we have found to our cost many times and continue to find it.
  • Kaustubh Katdare
    Kaustubh Katdare
    A.V.Ramani
    The road from the lab to general clinical use is long and bumpy, often with dead ends as we have found to our cost many times and continue to find it.
    Is it too hard for new inventions in biomedical industry to pass the clinical tests?
  • Ramani Aswath
    Ramani Aswath
    Kaustubh Katdare
    Is it too hard for new inventions in biomedical industry to pass the clinical tests?
    A lot has to be done even before permission for human trials is given. We provide for five years from the time a device passes what is called in vitro engineering tests. A formally constituted ethics committee has to study all data and approve clinical trials following informed consent of patients. The individual centres where such trials are conducted will also need approval from their respective ethics committees as well.
  • Kaustubh Katdare
    Kaustubh Katdare
    A.V.Ramani
    A lot has to be done even before permission for human trials is given. We provide for five years from the time a device passes what is called in vitro engineering tests. A formally constituted ethics committee has to study all data and approve clinical trials following informed consent of patients. The individual centres where such trials are conducted will also need approval from their respective ethics committees as well.
    Is the the bureaucracy that takes time or some scientific reason behind the time lag? I mean, does the approval committee requires the usefulness of the technology demonstrated in wide variety of subjects before they say yes?
  • Ramani Aswath
    Ramani Aswath
    Any medical device that has to find general use has to conform to applicable international standards like US FDA, CE or such. Each standard has prescribed elaborate procedures for validating the safety of devices. Critical devices have to pass stringent engineering tests after which the specified number of animal tests (again in specific animls) have to be done. After all such data is acquired, a detailed documentation has to be produced including the choice of human patients (age, gender and type of clinical condition) the actual test protocol for consideration of the ethics committee (which usually has a non clinical social science or legal person as chairman). Things like insurance in case of complications may also apply. A detailed informed consent form has to be produced (in the language of the particuar patient).

    All in all a pain in various parts of the anatomy. It is quite expensive as well.
    This follows the international agreement on human trials approved by WHO at the Helsinki cionvention and adopted by all countries.
    India's ICMR has produced its own document following the above. (I have a copy)
    This follows some unauthorized tests done in US on Afro-American slave population the led to many deaths and other complications.
    #-Link-Snipped-#

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