Whole Foods Settles PKD Discrimination Suit; PKD and Dialysis: Is it effective? PKD Aortic Aneurysm Risk; Targeted Treatment for PKD Coming?

PKD And Your Health

From MD Linx

Outcome of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease patients on peritoneal dialysis: A national retrospective study based on two French registries

Researchers used data from two French registries—the French Renal Epidemiology and Information Network (REIN) and the French language Peritoneal Dialysis Registry (RDPLF)—to conduct two retrospective studies to assess outcomes in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) treated with peritoneal dialysis (PD). The investigators focused on survival and technique failure. Participants included patients who started dialysis between 2000 and 2010. According to findings, PD is a reasonable option for patients with ADPKD. In this study, only select patients with ADPKD were offered PD and there was no negative influence of PD on these patients’ overall survival. In addition, ADPKD status had no impact on PD technique failure.

From MD Linx

Risk of ascending aortic aneurysm in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease

The paucity of data on aortic dilation in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) led researchers to compare sinuses of Valsalva (SoV) and tubular ascending aorta diameters in ADPKD patients with matched controls. Specifically, participants were 61 consecutive ADPKD patients who had an echocardiogram done. These patients were matched 1:1 with controls for sex, age, blood pressure and beta-blocker therapy use. The mean age of patients was 56±12 years. Among all the participants, 54% were men. Beta-blockers were received by 38%. Findings revealed that, ADPKD patients vs controls matched for common confounding factors for aortic dilation had an increased prevalence of aortic aneurysms

From BioWorld

Move over, cancer: Targeted therapy coming to kidney disease trial near you

Until recent years, polycystic kidney disease (PKD) was a renal indication in search of solutions – a situation even truer for its autosomal dominant (ADPKD) and autosomal recessive (ARPKD) subgroups. That dearth of drug development in the space is beginning to change, however, thanks to greater understanding of the genetic drivers of kidney disease and of the molecular pathways that are subsequently up-regulated and cause disease.Those findings are enabling researchers to apply precision medicine approaches that are the hallmark of targeted cancer therapies to indications such as PKD. Buy-in from regulators, who have shown willingness to explore creative alternatives to historically broad trial designs, are beginning to attract both big pharma and newer entrants to the opportunities in renal disease.

Living with PKD

From JD Supra

Whole Foods Market to Pay $65,000 To Settle EEOC Disability Suit

Employee Fired because of her Disability, Federal Agency Charged

RALEIGH, N.C. - Whole Foods Market Group, Inc., doing business as Whole Foods Market, headquartered in Austin, Texas, will pay $65,000 and provide other relief to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today. The EEOC had charged that Whole Foods Market violated federal law by failing to accommodate and firing an employee because of her disability.

According to the EEOC's lawsuit, Whole Foods hired Diane Butler in 2005 as a cashier for a facility in Raleigh, N.C. Butler has polycystic kidney disease, a genetic disease causing uncontrolled growth of cysts in the kidney, eventually leading to kidney failure. In 2009, while working for Whole Foods, Butler had a kidney transplant. The EEOC said that in December 2015, Butler missed work on two occasions because she had been hospitalized and needed to visit the doctor because of her kidney. The EEOC further alleged that although Butler informed Whole Foods that she needed time off due to her kidney impairment, the company nonetheless fired Butler because of her absences.

Such alleged conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which protects employees from discrimination based on a disability and requires employers to provide employees with disabilities with reasonable accommodations unless it would be an undue hardship. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Western Division (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Whole Foods Market Group, Inc. d/b/a Whole Foods Market; Civil Action No 5:17-cv-00494-FL) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

In addition to the $65,000 in damages, the two-year consent decree settling the suit requires that Whole Foods Market develop a disability accommodation policy. In addition, the company will provide annual training to its South Region human resource employees, and to managers and supervisors at its Wade Avenue store on the requirements of the ADA, including reasonable accommodation. Whole Foods Market must also post an employee notice concerning the lawsuit and employee rights under federal anti-discrimination laws.

"An employer who is on notice that an employee's absence is related to her disability must comply with the ADA's mandate to reasonably accommodate her by making exceptions to its absenteeism policy if doing so doesn't cause an undue hardship," said Lynette A. Barnes, regional attorney for the EEOC's Charlotte District. "Ignoring federal anti-discrimination law only makes things worse for a company as well as employees."