24 October 2023
Cambridge, UK
Kalium Health, a Cambridge University spinout developing the world’s first blood potassium rapid self-test, has launched its Series A offering to investors. The company is now raising £6m ($7.3m) to complete clinical validation activities and enter the US market.
US healthcare leader Ranndy Kellogg, President and CEO of Omron Healthcare, also joins the Board of Kalium Health in what is a significant moment for the company. Ranndy is recognised globally as a healthcare leader who has generated huge value in remote patient monitoring for chronic diseases through the growth of Omron and also AliveCor, where he also sits on the Board. He will draw on his experience of building and scaling medical product companies to support Kalium’s commercial strategy focused on rapid market entry in the fast-growing area of long-term disease management.
The investment, set to close in Spring 2024, will fund activities necessary for international regulatory approvals and initial market launch in the United States including scaling up product manufacturing and establishing partnerships with innovative healthcare providers.
Kalium Health spun out of the University of Cambridge in 2020 and has raised several million in funding since then to further develop and test its proprietary, miniaturised blood sensing technology targeting unmet clinical needs in cardiorenal monitoring. The company has generated compelling laboratory data, is preparing for patient evaluation and is currently in talks with pharma and biotech companies about partnering on technology development and clinical trials.
Kalium is developing an integrated hardware/software platform that provides a rapid, quantitative readout from a single drop of blood. The company’s initial focus is on the accurate monitoring of blood potassium levels to improve the management of Chronic Kidney Disease, which affects 800 million people worldwide, but the technology has wider applications and could help improve outcomes for a range of diseases. Kalium’s technology has already attracted the attention of US investors who recognise the huge opportunity to create value in Chronic Kidney Disease management, which currently accounts for over 24% of US Medicare spend.
The company has also announced the formation of its inaugural advisory board, bringing together clinical and industry experts to guide it through product development and commercialisation. Yale nephrologist Dr Fredric Finkelstein, Imperial College London nephrologist Dr Andrew Frankel and former i-STAT Corporation CEO Bill Moffitt are the first three to join as advisors and will support CEO Tom Collings and the management team during the next phase of company growth.
Tom Collings, CEO at Kalium Health, said “Having made tremendous recent progress in developing, testing and patenting our blood sensing technology, we are now planning our next steps towards commercialisation and selecting the right investment partners is key to our future success. This £6M round will enable us to deliver on our plan for regulatory approval and commercial launch within two years.
While our outlook is global, our decision to prioritise US market entry is based on regulatory considerations and near-term commercial opportunities. Ranndy’s insight and experience will be immensely valuable as our strategy evolves in line with healthcare delivery trends and I am thrilled that he has chosen to work with us on our important mission.”
Ranndy Kellogg, non-executive director at Kalium Health, said “I’m really excited to be joining the Board of Kalium Health on this exciting mission. I truly believe that physicians and cardiorenal patients will benefit from access to timely, accurate data. I have spent my career driving innovation in remote patient monitoring and I am extremely impressed by Kalium’s technology and the great potential it has. Particularly here in the US, as kidney care providers are incentivised to adopt new approaches, this is the right technology at the right time. I look forward to working with CEO Tom Collings and the whole team to make the vision a reality.”
Further information about the company and current investment opportunities can be found at www.kaliumhealth.com/investors.
Notes for editors:
About Kalium Health
Kalium Health spun out their novel blood sensing technology from the University of Cambridge in 2020 with a mission to empower patients and clinicians to save lives and enable new treatments with quick, accurate blood tests suitable for use by anyone, at home or at the point-of-care.
With a portfolio of digitally connected tests under development, its first product will be the Kalium personal blood potassium monitor. This is aimed at reducing the risk of sudden death for people living with chronic kidney disease, empowering people with potassium imbalance to self-manage and enabling new life-saving medications for people with heart disease.
Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and blood potassium
Potassium balance in the body is critical and is normally regulated by the kidneys. However, people with CKD are at risk of potassium building up in their body to dangerous, potentially fatal, levels with no way of knowing themselves. Currently, doctors require patients to travel from their home to clinical centres to have routine, invasive blood draws – but samples need laboratory analysis which makes real-time monitoring and timely treatment impossible. This prevents any opportunity to use real-time data to save lives and enable better treatments.
Kalium’s sensing technology uses a drop of blood from a fingertip rather than a venous blood draw and provides real-time data, making it suitable for use by clinicians or patients themselves. Secure digital connectivity ensures that data can be shared with Electronic Health Records along with providing personalised insights to empower patients to play a more active role in their health and wellbeing.
Biographies for members of Kalium Health’s advisory board
Dr Fredric O. Finkelstein has been working in nephrology in New Haven since coming to Yale as a Fellow in 1971. He is Clinical Professor of Medicine at Yale University and is a past Chair of the CME Program for the International Society of Nephrology. Dr Finkelstein has been working over the last 10 years to coordinate the planning, development, and organization of acute kidney injury and dialysis services in developing countries. He has received several awards including the J. Michael Lazarus Distinguished Award in 2015 from The National Kidney Foundation, the Karl Nolph Lifetime Achievement Award in Peritoneal Dialysis in 2016, and the Oreopolous Award from the International Society of Peritoneal Dialysis in 2020.
Dr Andrew Frankel has been a consultant nephrologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS trust since 1995. He has experience in managing all aspects of kidney disease, with a particular interest in relation to the management of cardio-renal metabolic disorders including the management of diabetes in the context of kidney disease. Dr Frankel has played a significant role in the development of national guidelines on the management of diabetes in the context of kidney disease. In addition, he was the joint editor of the UK Kidney Association guidelines on the use of SGLT2I in adults with chronic kidney disease.
William P. (Bill) Moffitt is an accomplished chief executive and board chair with a distinguished track record in the healthcare industry. Most recently he served as President and CEO of Nanosphere, a developer of an advanced molecular diagnostic platform for the early detection of disease, along with Board positions at Base4 Innovation, Momentum Bioscience and other medical technology innovators. Prior to this, he led i-STAT Corporation, developing the blood analyser that pioneered portable point-of-care blood testing. Mr Moffitt led i-STAT from research stage to IPO, before it was acquired by Abbott Laboratories. He currently serves on the boards of several life science companies, including four as chairman.