Pebble-Kidney
The World’s First Injury-Free Kidney Preservation Device
Current Preservation Methods are Outdated
Gold standard preservation of donor kidneys remains static cold storage. During this time the kidney is starved of both oxygen and nutrition.
Every hour of cold storage contributes to injury of the donor kidney. This often leads to delayed graft function and is associated with poorer transplant outcomes.
Preservation Techniques are Changing
An alternative preservation technique has been developed that keeps donor kidneys outside of the body at normothermia with oxygen and nutritional support.
The current clinical perfusion protocol is limited to 1-3 hours, is labour intensive, and requires a team of highly skilled professionals.
Organ suitability is determined based on 3 broad parameters that do not accurately reflect kidney functionality. Together these factors limit its current application.
Pebble Have a Solution
Pebble have performed over 1200 perfusions to generate a prolonged perfusion protocol that keeps donor kidneys for over 24 hours.
Our protocol preserves donor kidneys within physiological parameters maintaining organ functionality and preventing injury to the graft.
We have demonstrated that our protocol provides superior preservation of Donation after Circulatory Death (DCD) kidneys when evaluated against the current clinical protocol.
Renal haemodynamics and biochemical parameters are significantly improved using the Pebble protocol with a maintainence of tissue integrity.
More Kidneys Could be TRANSPLANTED
The US kidney transplant waiting list is continually growing, with 88,822 patients listed in 2023 – a 7.19% increase from 2022-2023.
Donation after Circulatory Death (DCD) kidneys are susceptible to damage and cannot be evaluated, meaning 12,500 were discarded in 2023 alone.
Pebble’s perfusion protocol allows a full evaluation of donor kidney functionality, including haemodynamic, biochemical and biological parameters. This will allow complete assessment of DCD kidneys, providing the opportunity to use these kidneys for transplantation.
Our Proposed Kidney Preservation Device
To move the Pebble perfusion protocol towards a clinical reality, we are currently developing a first-in-class automated organ preservation and evaluation device. This will be capable of preserving donor kidneys (including DCD organs) without injury for prolonged periods with minimal human intervention.
The device will have in-line sensors that continually monitor over 20,000 data points per minute, allowing deeper analysis of kidney function. Utilising machine learning, any deviation from physiological parameters will be automatically adjusted to maintain optimal kidney health. Together, this will allow a more informed decision of suitability for transplantation using a user-friendly traffic light system.
A simple traffic light system to visualise the health status of the kidney.
Use of machine learning to alter perfusion parameters using previously collected data to optimise outcomes.
Automated protocols allowing the user to start and stop preservation at the press of a button.
The Pebble Vision
Pebble’s founding team have amassed over 20 years of experience, in the field of transplant research, with particular expertise in normothermic machine perfusion. During this time they have successfully been granted £10 million in funding to support research. This has funded over 1,200 perfusions, leading to the publication of more than 120 credited academic manuscripts.
Pebble was founded in 2021 via a sole start-up investment. Since then, all internal research and development has been funded through reinvestment of revenue generated by Pebble’s CRO.
Our mission is to develop superior organ preservation protocols with line-of-sight to patients as a priority.
