NKF Innovation Fund backs Nephrogen's push to bring gene editing to the kidney
What's the deal? The National Kidney Foundation's NKF Innovation FundDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has invested in NephrogenDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a biotech developing one-time gene editing therapies for kidney disease. The deal was announced on October 6, 2026.
What's the endgame? Nephrogen is building NeFIND, a platform that pairs artificial intelligence with high-throughput screening to discover delivery vehicles that can reach kidney cells. Its lead program is a one-time gene editing therapy for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), the most common inherited kidney disease. A second program targets APOL1-mediated kidney disease.
Why now? No gene therapy has been approved for a kidney disease, and only one program targeting kidney cells is known to have entered clinical trials. The kidney's filtration barrier and its more than 15 distinct cell types make delivery especially hard.
What's the proof? In work under peer review, Nephrogen reported delivery to as much as 60% of kidney tubular epithelial cells in preclinical mouse models. It also said it demonstrated gene delivery in intact human kidneys kept on machine perfusion — to its knowledge, the first such result in intact human kidney tissue.
The investment will fund expansion of NeFIND to reach more kidney cell types and advance the ADPKD program toward IND-enabling studies.
"Nephrogen is tackling a fundamental challenge that has stood in the way: getting these potentially transformative therapies into the kidney," said Kevin Longino, chief investment officer of NKF and a kidney transplant recipient.
For chief executive officer and co-founder Demetri Maxim, the work is personal. "Polycystic kidney disease runs in my own family, and that's what makes this especially urgent for me," he said.
The signal: Gene therapy has largely bypassed the kidney despite 37 million Americans living with kidney disease. A backing from the NKF Innovation Fund — launched in 2021 to support early to mid-stage kidney therapies — signals growing confidence that the delivery barrier can be cracked.
Read more: prnewswire.com
Image credit: Davidson, A.J., Mouse kidney development (January 15, 2009), StemBook, ed. The Stem Cell Research Community, StemBook, doi/10.3824/stembook.1.34.1, http://www.stembook.org.
