Abu Dhabi’s tech-focused healthcare firm M42 is using AI to help provide kidney disease patients with a new level of personalised care.
M42 says its kidney.com platform combines decades of expertise with AI agents to help provide a service tailor-made to each person, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.
The platform was launched this week in the UAE, France, Germany, Portugal and the UK, with plans to expand to other countries. It is being rolled out by M42’s renal care business, Diaverum.
“We estimate there are hundreds of millions of people globally living with some form of chronic kidney disease,” Dimitris Moulavasilis, group chief executive of M42, told The National.
“Abu Dhabi owns one of the major global institutions in this [kidney care] industry, and now we are making the next breakthrough in AI to create this unique AI-powered platform, which is going to assist patients throughout their disease journey, helping them better understand the disease and improve medical outcomes.”
Diaverum operates more than 460 clinics across 25 countries, treating approximately 45,000 patients.
Kidney.com allows patients to ask questions through an AI conversational interface, receive dietary guidance, upload dialysis examinations for interpretation, and access multilingual educational support with voice interaction capabilities.
Patients can also upload medication information for interpretation and guidance.
“We had nephrologists, physicians and nurses across multiple countries developing it, and it was tested through 14,000 real-world interactions prior to launch,” said Mr Moulavasilis.
He stressed that the platform is not designed as an alternative to doctors or clinicians.
“This is not a medical device. It does not diagnose conditions or replace clinicians,” he said. “It is designed to complement professional care and support patient education.”
The launch comes amid growing global debate around the potential risks of generative AI in health care, particularly concerns about inaccurate or fabricated responses generated by large language models.
“One of the key concerns in the AI industry today is that large language models can hallucinate and generate inaccurate answers,” Mr Moulavasilis said. “We built guardrails around the model functionality by limiting it to predefined medical sources, rather than allowing unrestricted access to the internet.”
Kidney disease has more than doubled in 35 years, with the Middle East facing rising costs for treating the condition as cases surge, The National reported last year.
A report released in November showed the Middle East and North Africa have the highest prevalence of chronic kidney disease in the world.
Research published in The Lancet showed 18 per cent of people in the region have the condition diagnosed, compared with the global average of 14 per cent.
In 2023, chronic kidney disease was the ninth-leading cause of death worldwide, responsible for nearly 1.5 million deaths.
M42 said AI tools developed by the company are already being used to predict complications in dialysis patients.
“Today, we can predict thrombosis with 97 per cent precision,” Mr Moulavasilis said. “If you know earlier that a complication may happen, you can intervene sooner and reduce hospitalisations and costs.”
The company emphasised data privacy, saying patient information would remain within sovereign national data centres and comply with local regulations, including European Union AI and data protection rules.
“The data belongs to the patients,” Mr Moulavasilis said.
The platform will initially be free to use as M42 aims to create a wider digital ecosystem for chronic kidney disease patients and caregivers globally.
“The ambition is to connect tens of millions of patients through this platform,” he said.
Mr Moulavasilis said the initiative aligns with Abu Dhabi’s broader healthcare strategy focused on predictive and preventive medicine powered by AI, genomics and digital infrastructure.
“All this together will contribute to preventing diseases before they appear, reducing the cost of care and ensuring a better quality of life,” he said. “This is not futuristic. This is happening in Abu Dhabi right now.”
Wearable solutions
Plans are under way to expand the project beyond an online platform, said Mr Moulavasilis.
“The next step is for this platform to become an AI co-pilot connected to wearables and dialysis machines,” he explained. “It could eventually guide patients 24/7 and contribute to better quality of life and longevity.”
He said pilot programmes involving free wearable devices are under way in some healthcare systems abroad.
“In many cases, like in Catalonia for example, we’re providing these wearables for free in order to demonstrate both the medical and the positive financial outcomes for the health system,” he said.
The company had already implemented AI systems internally to standardise care pathways across multiple countries, he added.
“Whether care is delivered in Kazakhstan, China or Morocco, it follows the same standards,” said Mr Moulavasilis.
Chronic kidney disease is one of the fastest-growing global health challenges, with up to 90 per cent of those affected unaware they have the condition until it becomes significantly advanced, according to M42.
