Case Study

Normothermic liver perfusion system

OrganOx is developing a medical device that will increase the availability of suitable livers by enabling successful transplantation of organs from non-heart-beating donors and reducing the number of discarded livers. The device operates by maintaining the organ in a fully functioning state during transport and storage, by providing blood flow, oxygen, nutrients and temperature control within physiological parameters. This not only enables the liver to be stored safely for a longer period (up to 24 hours) but also provides the surgeon with real-time and cumulative data with which to assess viability and make a decision whether to transplant. This is a major advance over the current method of assessment which is largely subjective.

Team was appointed by OrganOx to assist with the development of their new transportable, performance-critical device and take it through all stages from specification to manufacture. Our focus includes definition of user needs and product specification, development of an automated proof of principle unit, system development combining electro-mechanical engineering, sterile fluid circuit design, embedded PCB design, firmware coding and industrial design. This leads to the validated manufacture of prototypes and pilot builds of the first robust and capable products.

OrganOx won the OBN ‘Best Early Stage Medtech’ award in 2010.

This project is on-going and heading towards clinical studies.

“Our technology will enable the number of suitable livers available for organ transplantation to be increased. For the product to arrive at market successfully with the correct technical specification it was critical to select the right technical partner to work with. We are delighted to choose Team.”

Dr Les Russell, CEO, OrganOx