Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects more than 1 in 7 U.S. adults and approximately 2 in 1,000 Americans live with end-stage kidney disease. Treatment for kidney failure is either receiving a kidney transplant or dialysis. Dialysis can be challenging for patients as it requires a significant time commitment. Patients are dealt with planning their daily life around their dialysis appointments which are usually 3 times a week and can last around 4 hours.
Patients who require dialysis also may not have adequate means of transportation to the dialysis clinic. Due to these challenges, home dialysis is an emerging option for patients to consider. Home dialysis allows the freedom to choose when and where to perform their dialysis sessions, however, comes with the task of getting the patient and family trained on how to operate the machine.
Outset Medical is a technology company changing the dialysis experience. Outset medical was founded in 2010 headquartered in San Jose, CA. Outset Medical is currently led by Leslie Trigg who has been CEO of the company since 2014.
In 2018, Outset Medical commercially launched Tablo, their technologically advanced hemodialysis device. Tablo is a dialysis machine with all-in-one technology, easy to learn by patients and nurses, and integrated with cloud-based monitoring and reporting. Tablo can automate documentation which eliminates the need for manual data entry by hospital staff. In 2020, FDA provided clearance for home use. Tablo home dialysis offers easy training with patients being able to learn to start using Tablo in less than 4 training sessions.
In June 2022, Outset paused shipments of portable Tablo systems while they waited for review by the FDA of the changes made to the system. In August 2022, Outset Medical resumed delivering at home Tablo dialysis systems after receiving the okay from FDA. Shares of Outset Medical jumped 37% to $15.73 on November 8, 2022, after the company shared their full-year revenue. “While our information is qualitative, what we now know is that a majority of the patients decided to wait for Tablo. And anecdotally, we are aware of several patients who chose to go on another home hemo system and then after provided a switch to Tablo after it became available again,” said CEO Leslie Trigg during the third-quarter earnings call.
The company was also recently nominated among the “Best Medical Technology” category in the Prix Galien 2022 Awards. As more physicians and patients begin to opt for home dialysis, we can expect to see Outset’s forefront technology, Tablo, improving quality of life among more and more end-stage kidney disease patients.
Author
Radhika Shah 