The kidneys play an important role in maintaining our overall health. While these bean-shaped organs perform multiple functions, a primary role is filtration, critical to clearing waste such as urea and to keeping the body’s fluids and electrolytes in balance. Good kidney health is essential for everyone, yet today, more than 30 million adults in the U.S. have chronic kidney disease (CKD) , and there has been little new innovation in treating kidney disease in over a decade.

The most common causes of CKD are diabetes and high blood pressure. Diabetic kidney disease can lead to end-stage renal disease, which requires dialysis or kidney transplantation, and which further increases the already elevated risk in diabetes for cardiovascular-related death . Even with an estimated 1 in 3 people with type 1 diabetes and half with type 2 diabetes eventually developing CKD, there have been no recent breakthrough treatments for this disease . Diabetic kidney disease is a chronic and progressive condition that severely impacts overall health and well-being, and it continues to devastate communities worldwide. It is a stark reality, and one that underscores the need to focus our ongoing research on kidney disease.

This Kidney Health Month, please join me and Janssen in reaffirming our commitment to putting kidney disease research at the forefront of our scientific pursuits. At Janssen we are doing this by pursuing novel therapeutic mechanisms that aim ultimately to help fight this life-threatening complication of diabetes.

¹ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chronic Kidney Disease Basics. https://www.cdc.gov/kidneydisease/basics.html. Accessed March 2018.

² Gross, J.L. et al. Diabetes Care. Diabetic Nephropathy: Diagnosis, Prevention, and Treatment. http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/28/1/164. Accessed March 2018.

³ Thomas, M.C. et al. Nat Rev Dis Primers. Diabetic Kidney Disease. https://www.nature.com/articles/nrdp201518. Accessed March 2018.