Latest news with #Paragonix
Business Wire
21-04-2025
- Health
- Business Wire
Paragonix Celebrates 100 th Kidney Transplant Case with FDA-Cleared KidneyVault™ System
WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Paragonix Technologies, a leader in organ transplant technologies and services, today announced the successful completion of its hundredth case using the FDA-cleared KidneyVault™ Portable Renal Perfusion System. This milestone was achieved with the support of Tennessee Donor Services (TDS), an Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) that serves more than 6 million people across Tennessee and Virginia. In recent years, the transplantation industry has removed geographic barriers to ensure organs may reach those in greatest need, meaning organs now travel farther and remain outside the body longer. For kidney transport, the gold standard of preservation is hypothermic machine perfusion - a clinically accepted therapy that continuously pumps a specialized solution through the organ. The KidneyVault System is the first hypothermic machine perfusion device specifically designed to maximize mobility. The device offers a comprehensive, portable solution from end-to-end, allowing transplant teams to continuously perfuse the kidney and monitor key perfusion metrics in real-time through a mobile-friendly, data-driven dashboard. The innovative system was first used shortly after achieving FDA clearance in late 2024 and has been rapidly adopted by likeminded organizations across the nation ever since. Now, over 12 OPOs stock the device, and 100 donor kidneys have been placed in a KidneyVault for transplant. This rapid adoption reflects a broader shift in the field — one that embraces new technology to meet the evolving demands of organ recovery and allocation. 'Tennessee Donor Services' mission is to save and improve lives through organ, eye, and tissue donation, and we're proud of our teams who embrace innovation to save as many lives as possible. It's exciting to partner with Paragonix to be an early adopter of the KidneyVault, a technology that will help more people get their lifesaving transplant, and work alongside their teams to make donation and transplant possible,' said Jill Grandas, CEO of Tennessee Donor Services. Leading OPOs like Tennessee Donor Services are leveraging the KidneyVault System to expand access to the limited supply of donor organs and improve post-transplant outcomes. As of April 2025, nearly 90,700 people are on the kidney transplant waiting list in the U.S., representing 86% of the national transplant list. In 2024, 27,761 kidney transplants were performed, highlighting the urgent need for innovative solutions to address the organ shortage. "This hundredth KidneyVault case is a significant milestone for Paragonix and underscores our company's commitment to enhancing the future of organ transplantation," said Dr. Lisa Anderson, President of Paragonix Technologies. 'We are proud to offer advanced preservation technologies across all solid organ transplants, and our ability to provide a truly portable renal perfusion system aligns with our mission to provide ' Every Possible Advantage' to those waiting for lifesaving transplants.' For more information about Paragonix Technologies, please visit About Tennessee Donor Services An Extraordinary Commitment to Science, Health, and Hope Tennessee Donor Services is a non-profit, organ procurement organization (OPO) dedicated to saving and improving lives by connecting organ and tissue donations to the patients who need them. TDS serves more than six million people in Tennessee and Virginia. About Paragonix Technologies Paragonix Technologies is a leading developer, manufacturer, and service provider in the organ transplant industry, establishing a novel approach to organ preservation. A Getinge company, Paragonix Technologies provides Advanced Organ Preservation ('AOP') devices that safeguard donor organs during the journey between donor and recipient patients. Our FDA-cleared and CE-marked devices incorporate clinically proven and medically trusted cold preservation techniques that allow unprecedented physical and thermal protection to the organ during transit. All Paragonix AOP devices are natively integrated with our novel digital app, delivering real-time organ tracking data and monitoring logistics for transplant teams seeking a secure and centralized solution. For more information, visit
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Vanderbilt Health Performs First Successful Kidney Transplant Using New Organ Preservation Technology
Vanderbilt University Hospital becomes first hospital in Tennessee to adopt advanced preservation technology for kidney transplantation to expand the donor pool NASHVILLE, Tenn., April 03, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Paragonix Technologies, Inc., a leader in organ preservation technology, and Vanderbilt Health, one of the oldest and largest kidney transplant programs in the country, are proud to announce the successful transplantation of a donor kidney using the Paragonix KidneyVault™ Renal Perfusion System. The FDA-cleared portable hypothermic perfusion technology is designed to preserve and transport donor kidneys. Vanderbilt is the first in Tennessee, and one of the first in the entire Southeast to use this innovative system for kidney transport. The adoption of KidneyVault is the latest advancement in Vanderbilt's commitment to leveraging cutting-edge technology in the organ transplantation process. By pioneering new approaches, Vanderbilt is able to serve more patients, including high-risk patients who may not be candidates at other medical centers. "We used the technology for transport and pumping and were satisfied with the overall feel and appearance of the kidney at the time of reperfusion," said Christian Crannell, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Division of Kidney & Pancreas Transplantation. "We also appreciated knowing where the kidney was during transport and knowing the organ temperature." More than 106,000 patients are currently on the national transplant waitlist in the U.S., with 86% waiting for a kidney. Expanding donor pools and optimizing available resources is critical. Hypothermic machine perfusion has shown significant benefits for kidney transplants. KidneyVault's compact and easy-to-transport design combines proven perfusion techniques with advanced digital monitoring, ensuring donor kidneys arrive in optimal condition and improving the process from donation to recipient. "Paragonix is committed to expanding access to donor organs and improving patient outcomes, and we're thrilled to see Vanderbilt Health introduce KidneyVault to its community," said Lisa Anderson, Ph.D., President of Paragonix Technologies. "Innovations like KidneyVault enable transplant centers to accept organs from greater distances and with more logistical complexity than ever before. We look forward to empowering the clinical community to maximize the use of Paragonix devices, giving every donor kidney the best chance to reach a patient in need." For more information about Paragonix Advanced Organ Preservation devices, please visit About Paragonix Technologies Paragonix Technologies is a leading developer, manufacturer, and service provider in the organ transplant industry, establishing a novel approach to organ preservation. A Getinge company, Paragonix Technologies provides Advanced Organ Preservation ("AOP") devices that safeguard donor organs during the journey between donor and recipient patients. Their FDA-cleared and CE-marked devices incorporate clinically proven and medically trusted cold preservation techniques that allow unprecedented physical and thermal protection to the organ during transit. All Paragonix AOP devices are natively integrated with a novel digital app, delivering real-time organ tracking data and monitoring logistics for transplant teams seeking a secure and centralized solution. For more information, visit About Getinge With a firm belief that every person and community should have access to the best possible care, Getinge provides hospitals and life science institutions with products and solutions aiming to improve clinical results and optimize workflows. The offering includes products and solutions for intensive care, cardiovascular procedures, operating rooms, sterile processing and life science. Getinge employs approximately 12,000 people worldwide and the products are sold in more than 135 countries. Connect with us on LinkedIn: Paragonix Technologies Follow us on X (formerly twitter): @ParagonixSherpa Find us on YouTube: Paragonix SherpaPak View source version on Contacts Media Contact: Adam LafreniereSr. Director, Marketingmarketing@ Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The amazing story of how a cooler and app have transformed organ transplants
'Ice is very bad for organ storage. It is very good to cool your beers in the summer, but it has no place in organ transplantation,' Lisa Anderson, CEO of Paragonix Technologies joked during an otherwise serious conversation that began as a quick chat about a new app, but ended up as an incredible story about how an established-but-flawed way of transporting donated organs to a recipient has been turned on its head. ' For about 50 years, transplanted organs have been moved around on ice,' Anderson explained. 'They were put in a sterile plastic bag and placed into an ice chest filled with crushed ice. But this is too cold for organs. It's freezing. If you put a piece of meat in the freezer it gets freezer burn, which injures tissue and organs. Just because clinicians have been doing this for 50 years, doesn't mean it was the right thing to do.' Paragonix recognized organ storage temperature couldn't be too cold, and they were persevered more effectively between four-and-eight degrees celsius. It now produces a range of high-tech storage devices that cool, preserve, and even track the 'health' of the organ it contains, along with a master app to simplify, streamline, and speed up the crucial flow of information throughout its journey. The FDA-approved coolers, which are quite different to the ones you'd use to keep drinks cold at a barbecue, are made of a single-use, biodegradable foam with Paragonix's SherpaCool phase-change technology to maintain a steady thermal environment inside. A battery keeps the display running, but the cooling is passive, so if the battery runs out for some reason, the contents will not be affected. Depending on the organ being transported, the Paragonix cooler performs other functions too, as Anderson explained: ' Some of our devices focus purely on temperature control, but some have other functionalities. For kidneys it's actually perfusing [meaning a liquid is circulating through an organ] the kidney during transport with a nutrient rich solution, and we can capture data to show how the organ is responding to it. This has been correlated to function after transplant, and we can give the clinician an indication of the health of that organ on arrival. Lungs are transported in an inflated state and we can track the inflation pressure during transport, another important parameter for clinicians.' Anderson explained much of tracking data simply didn't exist for organs in transit before, and could only be provided by machines and then verbally communicated to clinicians. Understanding the condition of the organ, and keeping people informed during its journey, is where the app comes in. ' A transplant procedure involves many, many people,' Anderson continued. 'The team taking care of the recipient has to be in the know, but so does the donor hospital. Before, what happened was hundreds of phone calls between people were constantly taking place, exchanging chemical information, information about their location, information about what they were doing, and what they were experiencing. In the Paragonix mobile app, everybody can see what is happening on the journey, whether donation has taken place, whether the organ has been recovered, and where the organ is. It has insights, remote monitoring, and real-time information so everyone knows what's happening.' Putting an organ in a bag filled with ice and communicating over over the phone suddenly sounds like a very outdated way of doing things. Anderson's enthusiasm was obvious during our conversation, but at its most infectious when she started explaining how Paragonix's technology was saving, and then extending people's lives. ' From inception to date we've transported over 10,000 organs and the app was has been used in over 6,000 cases,' she told Digital Trends. 'We're following close to 5,000 patients and what we have shown is if you put an organ in a Paragonix device you're going to significantly reduce, by over 50%, the occurrence of severe complications after transplant. Over four years we've been able to demonstrate there are more patients alive because of our technology than with ice, and a reduction in [heart transplant] mortality by 45%. We're the only company that not only has devices for all five transplant organs, but also for pediatric transplants. No other company has pediatric utilization.' It's hard not to be impressed and excited about technology with such meaningful benefits, but Paragonix has also completely changed the logistics of getting an organ to the right person, and dramatically reduced the costs involved too. ' Before the introduction of advanced preservation technology such as ours, organs had to be sourced within about 290 square miles,' Anderson told me. 'This was a pretty narrow geographic area, especially if you are on the coast and half of your territory was in the ocean. We have been able to push this geographic distance up to 2,300 miles. For liver, lung, and heart we've almost opened up the entire U.S..' Because organs can be kept outside the body for longer, transport options have opened up too. Anderson said due to previous time constraints, many organs traveled by private charter flights costing up to $80,000. Now, they can travel on a commercial airline for a fraction of the cost. In turn, all this helps clinicians plan surgeries at better times, rather than in the middle of the night or at the last minute. Hearing how transformative Paragonix's cooler and app can be, the amount it's being used in the medical industry will come as no surprise. Anderson provided more impressive figures: ' We currently transport and protect over 50% of hearts in the U.S. that are transplanted, over 50% of lungs, and about 10 percent of livers right now. We only launched liver transport 12 months ago. Our device has become standard of care in organ preservation, at least for heart and lung, and our mobile app has become standard of care as well.' Transplant centers even advertise they use Paragonix equipment and app, allowing patients to make an informed choice. If it was me receiving a donated organ, after hearing about what Paragonix offers, I'd certainly want it to be used. When I was first offered the chance to speak to Anderson, it was mostly about the clever app, and even when I accepted I had no idea it was just one part of an astonishing, life-saving system driven by mobile technology making a real difference to people's lives. As our conversation came to a close we had mostly talked about the organ, its journey, the recipient and of course, the technology, but Anderson had a poignant reminder about the other person involved, and how important they are to the process and to Paragonix itself. ' When we conceived the concept for Paragonix, our devices, and the app, we always thought about two patients. We think about the recipient that is going to have an improved outcome with our technology, but maybe more importantly, we also think about the donor patient who selflessly left that gift, and how we have utmost responsibility to protect it for somebody else to use.'
