Phraxis is a medical device company founded to develop a novel treatment for patients in need of hemodialysis. Hemodialysis is a life-saving treatment for kidney disease. At any one time more than 400,000 patients are receiving dialysis in the United States, and an average of 125,000 new patients need hemodialysis each year.
The most serious problem facing doctors who treat kidney disease is vascular access for blood to be withdrawn, dialyzed, and returned to the patient. This treatment needs to be administered three times a week, and current methods to access blood for dialysis leave patients prone to failure of the access, infection, and hand ischemia.
If approved, the InterGraft System is anticipated to be suitable for an estimated 100,000 patients annually—a number that includes new patients and existing patients whose vascular access fails. The InterGraft System is designed to offer interventionalists a safer alternative to a central venous catheter, which could save Medicare as much as $1 billion annually.