MediGO is Latest Recipient of National Kidney Foundation Innovation Fund Investment

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Dec 20, 2022, 08:00 ET

Revolutionary Technology Creating Digital Transformation of Kidney Transplantation Supply Chain to Improve Equity and Transparency

NEW YORK, Dec. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Innovation Fund, the philanthropic impact investment program of NKF, has made its latest investment in MediGO Inc., a first-of-its-kind healthcare supply chain technology company focused on improving equity, access, and transparency in the organ donation and transplant industry. MediGO is digitally transforming kidney donation and transplant operations to increase access to lifesaving organs and tissue. NKF funding will assist MediGO in the development, implementation, and overhaul of the kidney transplantation supply chain through advances in technology.

The supply chain that fuels the organ donation and transplantation industry is a complex ecosystem with medical teams, support staff, pilots, couriers, and families all working together to save a life with each precious organ. Many steps make up the supply chain, and historically, it has lacked end-to-end visibility, agility and equity. Lifesaving organs have been tracked with a system of texts, calls, and paper trails leading to waste and inefficiency in the system.

That inefficiency and lack of transparency can contribute to a lack of confidence among stakeholders, which is the main reason why organ donations are declined. A key to building this confidence and trust is improving the transparency of the organ donation process.

"We can't achieve equity in the organ donation system without instilling trust and confidence among stakeholders," said Kevin Longino, Chief Executive Officer of NKF and a kidney transplant recipient. "Right now, there's no real transparency. It shouldn't be easier to track a holiday gift than to track a donated kidney on the way to a lifesaving transplant."

"We launched the NKF Innovation Fund because the kidney care landscape in this country is fundamentally broken," he added. "The work MediGO is doing could completely overhaul a critical part of that landscape and dramatically improve transparency in the organ donation process. Providing this company with the resources they need to radically disrupt the status quo is precisely why we began this fund."

MediGO's donation and transplant supply chain software solutions give organ procurement organizations (OPOs) and transplant center teams the ability to unify decentralized stakeholders, coordinate resources and make vital decisions – to improve quality and deliver confidence to all stakeholders in the organ donation and transplant system. MediGO's latest product, Organ TeamLink™, provides OPOs the ability to efficiently respond to donor referrals and drive towards successful outcomes.

"Since the beginning, our vision for MediGO has been to revolutionize the organ donation and transplantation process. By increasing transparency and visibility throughout an organ's journey from procurement to transplant, we are bringing a collaborative and innovative approach to solve complex logistics challenges," said Scott Plank, co-founder and CEO of MediGO. "Kidneys constitute over 90% of the organs tracked on the MediGO platform today. As a result, this partnership makes strategic sense to us. We are highly focused on listening to the experiences of our users and industry partners and believe this will result in a better platform and a stronger impact on the overall donation and transplantation network. It is a privilege to help this community save time, money, and improve the quality of the gift of life. Together, we can save more lives."

MediGO's innovative healthcare supply chain technology digitally transforms the U.S. organ donation and transplant system to improve fairness and equity, reduce nonuse of donated organs, and save more lives. Recognized by Edison Awards and Fast Company for its disruptive technology, and powered by proprietary algorithms and machine learning, MediGO provides the most actionable data available in the donation and transplantation industry. For more information about MediGO, visit gomedigo.io.

Launched in 2021, the NKF Innovation Fund works to accelerate funding, development, and commercialization of therapies that kidney patients need and deserve. The fund invests in early to mid-stage companies that are developing innovative, patient-centric kidney therapies. The long-term goals of the NKF Innovation fund are to prevent kidney disease, eliminate the transplant waitlist, and provide better, safer treatments for dialysis patients so they can live fuller and more productive lives. For more information about the NKF Innovation Fund, please visit kidney.org/innovationfund.

To learn more about kidney disease and how to maintain optimal kidney health visit kidney.org/.

About Kidney Disease

In the United States, 37 million adults are estimated to have kidney disease, also known as chronic kidney disease—and approximately 90 percent don't know they have it. One in three American adults is at risk for chronic kidney disease. Risk factors for kidney disease include: diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, and family history. People of African American, Hispanic, American Indian, Asian, or Pacific Islander descent are at increased risk for developing the disease. African Americans are about four times more likely than White Americans to have kidney failure. Hispanics are 1.3 times more likely than non-Hispanics to have kidney failure.

About National Kidney Foundation

The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) is the largest, most comprehensive, and longstanding patient-centric organization dedicated to the awareness, prevention, and treatment of kidney disease in the U.S. For more information about NKF, visit www.kidney.org.

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SOURCE The National Kidney Foundation