Affordable dialysis

Every year over 2.5 million people globally receive dialysis and a further seven million people die of kidney disease because they can’t get access to life saving treatment. The cost of dialysis is a significant barrier to access, with annual treatment costing tens of thousands of dollars.

To help come up with ideas to solve this significant issue we ran a competition to create an affordable dialysis machine. The winning solution was a world first, miniaturising and combining a number of existing processes to develop a system that is reliable, safe and cheap. Each machine will be mass produced for a fraction of the current cost of dialysis and will provide dialysis for up to five people. The new machine will be about the size of a loaf of bread so it is fully portable.

Product development is proceeding and regulatory approvals are expected in 2021.

Through Ellen Medical Devices , we will soon be examining partnering opportunities to make this new life-saving technology available in the countries that need it most.

By bringing together people from all over the world, we can tackle the issues of health access and collaborate on new treatments for the world's deadliest diseases.