Minneapolis-based Medtronic Inc formed a joint venture with Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd in India to enter into the kidney dialysis market. Medtronic would be investing USD 24 million to craft a low-cost, portable hemodialysis system for developing countries. It would also be sending a research and development team in India to work on the project with Apollo Hospitals. Hemodialysis is the therapy used to filter toxins from the blood when a patient's kidneys cannot anymore do so.

According to Medtronic Chief Executive Officer Omar Ishrak, patients in the developing world have limited access to expensive dialysis treatments. "In the case of hemodialysis, both the cost and lack of mobility of current systems have made broader access to dialysis treatment difficult and expensive," he said in a statement.

Medtronic said it hopes to have the low-cost alternative system in place by 2016.

Bloomberg reported that almost 200,000 people develop end-stage kidney disease each year.