OrganOx signs five year manufacturing contract with Gooch& Housego

Published by

Nicky Godding

University spin-out and leader in the field of organ preservation, OrganOx, has signed a 5-year manufacturing contract with ITL Group (a Gooch & Housego company) for its portable, performance-critical medical device, metra.

The system operates by supplying a donated liver with oxygenated blood, anti-clotting drugs and assorted nutrients, while keeping the organ at a stable temperature (37°C).

metra® has the potential to significantly reduce the number of livers that are discarded due to damage incurred by cold storage, or a lack of oxygen.

The metra system can preserve and maintain a donated liver for up to 24 hours between the point of retrieval and transplantation. This extended preservation time will increase the number and quality of livers available to transplant patients.

Darius Mirza, professor of transplant surgery at University Hospitals Birmingham, said the machine was a “gamechanger”.

He said: “In the 30 years I’ve been involved with transplantation, there have been three or four events which have been game changers and I’m absolutely certain we are looking at a game changer that will change the way we practice organ storage and transplantation.”

Liver perfusion is currently performed on the NHS in a small number of specialist’s centers in the UK.

Managing Director of ITL, Tom Cole, said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with OrganOx on this ground-breaking project. This agreement is yet another important milestone positioning metra® as one of the most promising transplantation candidates in late-stage development. This collaboration marks the beginning of what I’m sure will be a very exciting journey for both ITL and OrganOx.”

CEO of OrganOx, Craig Marshall, added: “This agreement is strategically important to OrganOx as we prepare penetrate the US market, I have a manufacturing background and I know the importance of working with the best partners in the supply chain. ITL is a great fit with OrganOx given their track record of successfully bringing medical devices to the market coupled with UK HQ with a presence in the US and in China.”

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.