BioPorto: From reaction to prevention in AKI
At BioPorto’s investor meeting on October 7, Professor Dr. Jun Oh of Heidelberg University Hospital gave an independent clinical view on what the updated KDIGO guidelines mean for NGAL. His argument was that nephrology is moving from reaction to prevention, which is the shift the investment case rests on.
The clinical case against creatinine is the lag. Up to 72 hours can pass before it responds to kidney damage, and during that window nephrotoxic treatment continues unseen. NGAL is released from the tubular system and rises within hours of the damage occurring. With roughly one in five hospitalised patients developing acute kidney injury, elevated mortality in children and neonates, and longer intensive care stays, Oh sees an unmet need rather than an incremental improvement. He now uses NGAL routinely in his own department ahead of major procedures.
For the case, the key point is that biomarkers were barely mentioned in KDIGO before this year and now form part of both identification and risk stratification. Oh expects hospitals to follow once the recommendation is in place, which is the core of the second pillar, with finalisation expected late in 2026. His points on shorter intensive care stays and avoided dialysis also support the health economics angle, which is our own framing rather than an announced BioPorto item. The volume, however, sits in the adult segment, where the validation study is underway and FDA approval is expected in mid-2028. Guidelines create demand, but approval converts it into revenue at scale.
Oh’s presentation speaks directly to the second pillar of our investment case, where KDIGO inclusion is the trigger for broader hospital adoption, and it supports the health economics angle that we see as the most underappreciated part of the case.
You can read our investment case here:
HC Andersen Capital receives payment from BioPorto for a Digital IR/Corporate Visibility subscription agreement. /Michael Friis.13:15, 16/10-2026
