GSK Joins American Kidney Fund Corporate Membership Program at 'Champion' Level

ROCKVILLE, Md. (June 23, 2020) — The American Kidney Fund (AKF) today announced that GSK has joined its new corporate membership program as a champion-level member.

With its corporate membership in AKF, GSK is helping to fund the organization's essential and award-winning work in fighting kidney disease and helping people live healthier lives. AKF, which directly touches the lives of more kidney patients than any other kidney nonprofit, spends 97 cents of each donated dollar on patients and programs, not overhead — working to advance kidney disease awareness, prevention, early detection, treatment and research.

Among AKF's initiatives is a patient engagement program to help minority populations evaluate whether clinical trials are appropriate for them and learn how to access trials.  Lack of minority patient engagement in clinical trials adds to the general recruitment challenges researchers routinely face and prevents them from acquiring data needed to make drugs that work best for minority patients — the very population that is often most affected by many chronic diseases, including kidney disease. For example, African Americans are more than three times more likely and Hispanics are 1.6 times more likely to develop kidney failure.

With support from GSK in 2019, AKF developed a webinar about clinical trials, created comprehensive educational content for its website, and developed engaging  program materials specific for minority patient engagement in clinical trials.

"We are proud to welcome GSK as a Champion-level member in our new corporate membership program and are grateful for their support for our lifesaving initiatives," said LaVarne A. Burton, AKF president and CEO. "Our organizations share a common goal of improving the lives and health of individuals living with kidney disease, and we look forward to continued collaboration on important initiatives."

"GSK is proud to be a leader in research and development in lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease affecting primarily women that can lead to kidney disease," said Dr. Joan Von Feldt, GSK Rheumatologist and Professor Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania.  "It disproportionately affects women of African, Hispanic and Asian ancestry, and it's critical to increase their participation in clinical trials. It is challenging to develop new treatment options, and the more GSK can collaborate with organizations such as AKF, the more we can bring discovery and effective treatments to patients."

AKF's new corporate membership program is open to institutional partners that support AKF's core mission of fighting kidney disease and helping people live healthier lives. It provides essential direct support that helps fund AKF's work fighting kidney disease on all fronts — from prevention through post-transplant living.

To learn more about AKF's corporate membership program, please contact Fiona Lawless, senior director of corporate engagement, at flawless@kidneyfund.org or 301.984.6635.