Over 800 million people worldwide suffer from chronic kidney disease (CKD), which is associated with a high individual disease burden for those affected, multiple secondary diseases, frequent doctor contacts, and hospitalizations, but also outstanding costs for the health system and the solidarity community. Appropriate interventions are essential to prevent the development and progression of CKD. In the past decade, great progress has been made in the search for drugs that can slow the progression of CKD. Sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors, the non-steroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist, finerenone, and the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist, semaglutide, have demonstrated albuminuria-lowering effects and kidney protection in people with CKD. Although these new pharmacological approaches show great promise, it is unclear how to optimally sequence and combine these therapies. In addition, the therapies are often not implemented due to treatment inertia and fear of adverse effects. This study aims to address this knowledge gap by utilizing a biomarker-guided treatment approach to reduce the decline in kidney function.
The aim of the CKD-bioMatch study is to evaluate the efficacy of a biomarker-targeted treatment approach versus standard of care in people with CKD and albuminuria. We hypothesize that a biomarker-targeted treatment approach is superior to standard of care at reducing estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) decline in people with CKD.