UK-based OrganOx has received $142m in primary and secondary equity financing to propel the growth of its metra platform technology in the global organ technology market.
New investor HealthQuest Capital led the oversubscribed financing round, with participation from current investors of the company, Lauxera Capital Partners and BGF.
Other new investors included Soleus Capital, Avidity Partners, and Sofina. They joined a list of current investors University of Oxford, Technikos, the Oxford Technology and Innovations Fund, and Longwall Ventures.
Piper Sandler served as the exclusive financial adviser to OrganOx for this transaction, with Latham & Watkins providing legal counsel.
OrganOx chief financial officer Steve Deitsch said: “OrganOx’s financial profile is unparalleled, and partnering with leading investors in this transaction – new and existing – further strengthens us to support the success of our current customers, to expand our customer base, and to enter new markets.”
The OrganOx metra normothermic machine perfusion (NMP) platform gained approval in Australia, Europe, Canada, and the US.
Leveraged in more than 5,000 liver transplants, the platform is claimed to maintain donor livers in a metabolically active state outside the body and enables a pre-transplant functional evaluation of the organ by transplant teams. This approach results in an increased number of organs being available for transplant.
In addition to liver transplant technology, OrganOx is also developing an investigational metra technology aimed at kidney transplants, with US clinical trials expected to commence soon.
Furthermore, the company expects to initiate a first-in-human clinical trial in collaboration with biotechnology company eGenesis. The trial will integrate OrganOx's metra technology with genetically engineered porcine livers of eGenesis for individuals suffering from acute-on-chronic liver failure.
OrganOx, which was spun out of the University of Oxford in 2008, is focused on developing solutions for “enhancing” patient outcomes for those with acute or chronic organ failure.
