Partners' Blog - December 2023

Thanks for visiting the December 2023 Partner's Blog!

Thank you for visiting the December 2023 Partner's Blog! I hope that you find the featured information helpful.

The Corporate Affiliates Program provides an exciting opportunity for companies to support the work of the American Society of Transplantation (AST) and receive tangible benefits throughout the year. The following companies are members of the 2023 Corporate Affiliate Program (CAP).

For additional partner information, check out AST Partner Connect.

Alex Wiseman
AST Development Chair

What's News With Our Partners:

In November, Dr. Michael Marvin, Transplant Surgeon at Geisinger Medical Center, Dr. Ram Peddi, Nephrologist at California Pacific Medical Center, and Dr. John Friedewald, Professor of Medicine and Surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, spent the afternoon reviewing case studies where Gene Expression Profile tests help inform immunosuppression management. This webinar was a panel-style discussion of immunosuppression titration guided by a blood test to detect immune system quiescence in post-transplant patients. Transplant Genomics sponsored the webinar, one of Eurofins Transplant Diagnostics companies. If you missed the live webinar, you can review it here.

Hepatorenal syndrome–acute kidney injury (HRS-AKI), a complication of decompensated cirrhosis, is a functional, progressive failure of the kidneys that may be reversible but is often rapidly fatal.¹

Eighteen percent of patients with advanced cirrhosis develop HRS-AKI after 1 year of follow-up, doubling to 39% after 5 years.^1,2 More than 35,000 Americans are estimated to be diagnosed annually.^3,4

Without treatment, the median survival time for someone with HRS-AKI is less than 2 weeks.¹American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) Guidance is clear: Early diagnosis and intervention is the goal.⁵Fortunately, with early diagnosis, improved outcomes are possible.^5,6

HRS-AKI can present differently for each patient, but there are 4 clues to look for. Using the CARE acronym can help you remember them: Cirrhosis, Ascites, Resistance to albumin, and Elevated serum creatinine. Once you suspect HRS-AKI, use the complete AASLD Guidance criteria to help make a diagnosis.⁵

Visit maketheHRScount.com to see diagnostic criteria and learn why timing is everything with HRS-AKI.

References: 1. Flamm SL, Brown K, Wadei HM, et al. The current management of hepatorenal syndrome–acute kidney injury in the United States and the potential of terlipressin. Liver Transpl. 2021;27(8):1191-1202. doi:10.1002/lt.26072 2. Ginès A, Escorsell A, Ginès P, et al. Incidence, predictive factors, and prognosis of the hepatorenal syndrome in cirrhosis with ascites. Gastroenterology. 1993;105(1):229-236. doi:10.1016/0016-5085(93)90031-7 3. Data on file – Ref-06931. Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals. 4. Singh J, Dahiya DS, Kichloo A, Singh G, Khoshbin K, Shaka H. Hepatorenal syndrome: a nationwide trend analysis from 2008 to 2018. Ann Med. 2021;53(1):2018-2024. doi:10.1080/07853890.2021.1998595 5. Biggins SW, Angeli P, Garcia-Tsao G, et al. Diagnosis, evaluation, and management of ascites, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis and hepatorenal syndrome: 2021 practice guidance by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. Hepatology. 2021;74(2):1014-1048. doi:10.1002/hep.31884 6. Angeli P, Ginès P, Wong F, et al. Diagnosis and management of acute kidney injury in patients with cirrhosis: revised consensus recommendations of the International Club of Ascites. Gut. 2015;64(4):531-537. doi:10.1136/gutjnl-2014-308874

Mallinckrodt, the “M” brand mark and the Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals logo are trademarks of a Mallinckrodt company. Other brands are trademarks of a Mallinckrodt company or their respective owners.

Is your center striving to increase living donation?

Help educate the friends and family of your patients on the kidney transplant waitlist to recognize that they may already have the gift. One kidney could help improve the life of someone.¹

An innovative avenue to help empower and educate individuals to recognize they may already have the gift is to utilize social media platforms. Recently, Sanofi has partnered with the Explore Transplant team to launch a social media campaign to help educate viewers by directing them to watch real-life stories from living donors and see why they decided to give the gift of life.

Sanofi would like to wish you and your family a healthy, happy holiday season. We look forward to seeing you in 2024 at Cutting Edge of Transplantation (CEoT).

To view the video click here, and to access additional educational resources, please visit us at sanofi.astpartnerconnect.com.

Reference: 1. Kidney donation and transplant. American

Takeda attended IDWeek 2023 in Boston from October 11-15, with commercial and medical booths onsite.

The American Society of Transplantation’s Future of Transplantation 2023 Meeting took place in Boston from November 15-17. Saré Largay, Vice President, New Product Launch & Business Insights and U.S. Transplant Franchise Head at Takeda, participated in a panel discussion titled, “Successful Strategies for Investing in Transplantation.”

To recognize National Family Caregivers Month in November, the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC) hosted a webinar titled, “Transplant Caregiving in the U.S.: A Call for System Change.” The webinar presented findings from NAC’s work supported by Takeda to determine the challenges and needs of a transplant family caregiver, as well as to provide policy recommendations to better support family caregivers across the nation's transplant centers.

We will be onsite at The Transplantation & Cellular Therapy Meetings of ASTCT® and CIBMTR® in San Antonio from February 21-24. Takeda is looking forward to joining more than 5,000 physicians, researchers and nurses to discuss some of the timeliest issues in the transplant field.

Check out all of our CAP partners: