Product Description

AWAK, which stands for Automated Wearable Artificial Kidney, is an ambulatory (portable) form of peritoneal dialysis.

In peritoneal dialysis, dialysis fluid (or dialysate) is pumped into the peritoneal cavity, a space in the abdomen that surrounds the abdominal organs. Toxins and wastes are then cleared from the blood through the peritoneal membrane, the lining of the abdomen (or the peritoneum). The peritoneal membrane acts as a filter to remove impurities from the blood while at the same time preventing important components of the blood, such as the red and white blood cells and proteins, from leaking out into the dialysate. In essence, the peritoneal membrane serves the same function as the normal kidneys, which act to selectively filter out impurities from the blood and remove them in the urine.

After several hours of use, the spent dialysate containing the toxins from the blood is then drained from the abdomen and replaced with new fluid to restart the process. For patients who routinely undergo peritoneal dialysis, this process is normally done at home several times per day after a period of training at a dialysis center.

The other form of dialysis – haemodialysis – is performed in dialysis centers or hospitals. Haemodialysis requires patients to be connected to a machine (through a tube called a catheter or an artificially-created connection of a vein and arterty in the fore-arm called a fistula) 3-4 hours several times per week. The machine functions as an artificial kidney to selectively filter out impurities in a similar way as peritoneal dialysis.  

The AWAK device uses a variant of peritoneal dialysis. Again, dialysate is infused into the peritoneal cavity so that dialysis – the diffusion of blood toxins into the dialysate – can occur. What differentiates AWAK from either existing peritoneal dialysis or haemodialysis technology is that it is both wearable and self-contained. Patients are able to live their lives with unrestricted mobility. More importantly, they do not have to regularly replace the dialysate as the AWAK continually regenerates the used dialysate through a sorbent cartridge. AWAK technology truly represents the next evolution in renal replacement technology by combining the at-home convenience of peritoneal dialysis with unprecedented freedom from routine peritoneal dialysate changes or haemodialysis sessions.

We have currently designed our first prototype model. In line with our promise of developing an automated and wearable artificial kidney that provides freedom to our patients, AWAK’s R&D team is currently working on a 1 kg model. This is our latest innovation in an attempt to create a truly portable and lightweight artificial kidney.

We anticipate that clinical trials will begin at the start of 2011 in US and Singapore. The product will be commercially licensed by 2012.