News

A two-day meeting was held in Vancouver, Canada, from January 31 to February 1, 2020, which brought together the ISN executive leadership, members of ISN Research groups, patients, clinicians, clinical trialists, academics, industry, and regulators to establish momentum for international collaborative work in clinical trials and research in kidney disease across the world.

The meeting introduced current ISN research activities and described the overall landscape in international clinical research. Six patient partners shared their kidney journeys and their perspectives on participating in research. The focus of the meeting was to present, vet, and clarify draft definitions of kidney failure as endpoints in clinical trials, and to understand the nuances and issues related to different definitions, in specific circumstances, in order to achieve international consensus.

A publication is being drafted, which will describe the recommended components of kidney failure endpoints for use in clinical trials, based on the totality of the work done by the conference participants. Dissemination activities are subsequently planned.

This is the first attempt by the international nephrology community to identify reproducible, robust definitions of kidney failure outcomes and acceptable surrogates for clinical trials, to be used worldwide, in any resource setting. The value of these consensus definitions will be to improve consistency and understanding of results in clinical trials. This is a first step toward a long-term goal to improve the evidence base from which to treat patients with kidney diseases worldwide.

This initiative is part of ISN’s recognition of the importance of clinical research and the need to enhance clinical trials based on established endpoints with international relevance.