NHS Scotland, AZ and Scottish universities partner for kidney health research

The collaboration aims to develop new medicines to reduce chronic kidney disease in Scotland

NHS Scotland, AstraZeneca (AZ) and the Universities of Glasgow and Dundee have entered into a partnership to accelerate research into treating chronic kidney disease (CKD).

The collaboration aims to develop new medicines to slow down the progression of CKD, build infrastructure and enhance expertise in renal clinical trial delivery in Scotland to improve patient outcomes.

Affecting nearly 850 million people worldwide, CKD is a serious, progressive condition caused by decreased kidney function, commonly caused by diabetes, hypertension and glomerulonephritis.

By preventing the progression of CKD, patients will live longer, better lives, free from other consequences of the condition, including heart failure, cardiovascular disease and stroke, while also reducing pressure on the NHS.

In addition to slowing the progression of CKD, NHS Scotland, AZ and the Universities of Glasgow and Dundee will work to reduce the risk of patients potentially needing dialysis, a procedure to remove waste products and excess fluid from the blood when the kidneys stop working properly, or kidney transplantation.

Commenting on the collaboration, AZ UK’s president, Tom Keith-Roach, said: “We are thrilled to invest in a partnership with the University of Glasgow, the University of Dundee, and the Scottish government to speed up the study of three potential new combination medicines to treat this disease.”

Neil Gray, cabinet secretary for health and social care, commented: “Together we can advance targeted studies into medicines that slow [the] progression of the disease and reduce the need for dialysis or transplantation,… provide greater opportunities for patients and enable Scotland to attract and deliver more innovative trials.”

The partnership comes after the Scottish Medicines Consortium accepted Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly’s Jardiance (empagliflozin) last month for use within NHS Scotland to treat adult patients living with CKD.

Prior to this, in March, researchers from University College London and the UK Kidney Association suggested that treatments for rare diseases could significantly reduce the burden of kidney disease for patients and the NHS, in a study published in The Lancet.