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UPDATE — CareDx Wins $44.9M in Damages in False Advertising Trial Against Natera; Natera Intentionally Deceived Transplant Community

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Jury Finds Natera Falsely Advertised its Prospera Kidney Transplant Technology

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., March 23, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — CareDx, Inc. (Nasdaq: CDNA), a leading precision medicine company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of clinically differentiated, high-value healthcare solutions for transplant patients and caregivers, today announced that the Company won its false advertising case against Natera (Nasdaq: NTRA) as a jury found that Natera intentionally and recklessly misled the transplant community by deliberately engaging in false advertising in the promotion and marketing of its Prospera kidney transplant rejection assessment test. CareDx was awarded monetary damages totaling $44.9M: $21.2M in compensatory damages and $23.7M in punitive damages. Read more on CareDx.com.

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The People Making Organ Transplants More Efficient

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Existing and emerging biotech advances are transforming the way we preserve and transport donated organs. While their methods may vary, all share a common end goal: saving more lives.

National Donate Life Month, celebrated every April, is here once again. It’s a time to acknowledge and encourage the gift of life that organ donation provides. Since the first successful organ transplant in 1954, countless lives have been saved through transplants. Just last year, surgeons performed a record number of transplants — more than 40,000, roughly 60 percent of which were kidneys alone.

But there are some 106,000 people currently on the national transplant waiting list and, with another person being added every nine minutes, this need outpaces supply. Every day, an estimated 17 people die waiting for an available organ. And lack of supply isn’t the only barrier to transplants; viability of the organs is another issue. Thousands of donated organs go to waste each year because they don’t reach a potential recipient in time.
Read the full story.

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Baby with rare condition gets heart transplant after waiting 218 days

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A baby girl who has been living in a Chicago hospital with her parents for the last six months while waiting for a new heart finally received one last week.

Elodie Carmen Baker received a heart transplant at The Heart Center at Lurie Children’s Hospital on March 27. Elodie was about 7 weeks old when she was diagnosed with a rare heart condition in August 2021 called dilated cardiomyopathy. She had been on the waitlist for a new heart for over 200 days. Read the full story here.

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Broad panel genetic testing found effective for diagnosing patients with kidney disease

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A kidney disease panel for 382 genes yielded a high success rate and was effective in identifying monogenic variants underlying inherited kidney diseases, according to data published in the American Journal of Nephrology.

“Recently, Natera Inc. developed a next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based broad panel test for the identification of monogenic causes of chronic kidney disease. This panel encompasses genes associated with disorders spanning multiple types of kidney diseases, including cystic, tubulointerstitial, glomerular, tubular and structural disorders,” Anthony J. Bleyer, MD, from Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston Salem, South Carolina, and colleagues wrote. Read more.

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Sasha King: Changing the Face of Organ Transplant

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Difference makers can bring about meaningful changes that affect people’s lives on different levels. Drawing on her MIT background and passion to make a difference in the lives of others, sasha king has led to a remarkable patient-centered approach to scientific innovation and commercial growth since joining careDx as the Head of Marketing†

Sasha’s passion for impacting patients’ lives has helped CareDx deliver a new standard of care for patients who have traded end-stage organ failure for a second chance at life with an organ transplant. She has also helped simplify patients’ daily lives by conducting home blood tests for immunocompromised transplant recipients during a global pandemic.
Read more.

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Moving xenotransplantation research into human trials will require adjusting our expectations, researchers say

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On the heels of some important “firsts” this past year, xenotransplantation — grafting animal organs into humans — is on the cusp of crossing over into new territory: human trials.

In January, University of Maryland surgeons transplanted a pig heart into a 57-year-old man, who survived two months. And last fall, New York University doctors implanted pig kidneys into recently deceased individuals to show there wouldn’t be immediate rejection of the organs. As exciting as these procedures were for researchers who have been trying to make xenotransplantation a reality, they highlighted the slow pace of clinical development, which has been stalled in primate studies for decades. Read more.

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7 Self-Care Tips for Chronic Kidney Disease

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Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a progressive health condition that damages your kidneys. Your kidneys are two bean-shaped organs that help remove waste and excess fluid from the body.

High blood pressure and diabetes are the leading causes of CKD. Treating these conditions can help slow the progression of kidney damage. If your kidney function gets too low, you may need dialysis or a kidney transplant. Read more.

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Tough Transplants

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Covid-19 has caused a dramatic shift in organ transplants, with rising demand and more complex surgeries — all to prolong lives

Al Brown lay in a hospital bed at the Center for Care & Discovery at the University of Chicago Medicine, in disbelief. He had contracted Covid-19 in May 2020, during the early days of the pandemic. He knew the infection was serious, but he had no idea it would ravage his heart.

Initially, the Riverdale resident thought he had the flu and found it hard to breathe. He took himself to UChicago Medicine Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey. Doctors there told him he had Covid-19. He was in the hospital for a week, hooked up to oxygen to help his breathing. Then he went back home, figuring he would recover.  Read the full story.

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