OrganOx, a University of Oxford spinout specialising in organ preservation technology, has been acquired by Japanese healthcare company Terumo Corporation for £1.18 billion. The deal announced this week marks the first time one of the University’s companies has been sold for more than £1 billion.
Founded in 2008 by Professor Constantin Coussios of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (IBME) and Professor Peter Friend of the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences, OrganOx emerged from collaboration between Oxford’s engineers and clinicians. Its pioneering technology, Normothermic Machine Perfusion, keeps donor organs functioning outside the human body by circulating oxygenated fluid at body temperature. This process not only prolongs organ viability but also enables clinicians to assess function in real-time, significantly increasing the number of organs available for transplant.
Since its inception, OrganOx’s devices have been used in more than 6,000 transplants worldwide. They have enabled the use of organs from higher-risk donors that would previously have been discarded, while also reducing the need for emergency and night-time surgeries. Earlier this year, the company’s achievements were recognised with the Royal Academy of Engineering’s MacRobert Award, the UK’s most prestigious engineering innovation prize.
The acquisition builds on a longstanding partnership between OrganOx and Terumo, which first invested in the company through its corporate venture arm in February this year. The deal remains subject to regulatory approval but is expected to accelerate the technology’s global reach, expanding its benefits to patients and healthcare systems across multiple continents.
Professor Coussios, co-founder of OrganOx and Director of the IBME, reflected on the journey from lab to clinic: “From the outset our aim was to solve one of transplantation’s greatest challenges: preserving organs in a viable state for longer, so as to make it possible to assess and potentially transplant what was previously thought untransplantable. Seeing that vision realised for the benefit of patients across four continents has been incredibly rewarding.”
The former Director of the Oxford Transplant Centre, Professor Friend, added: “OrganOx technology is transforming the landscape of organ transplantation, with huge impact on both patients and surgeons. The success of this venture results from a highly effective synergy between Surgical Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, and from the University of Oxford’s support in translating our research into real-world impact.”
The University of Oxford was an early investor in OrganOx, providing proof-of-concept funding through the University Challenge Seed Fund and later supporting the company through its Spinout Equity Management Fund. The transaction represents a 50-fold return for founding investors and reinforces Oxford’s position as one of the world’s leading ecosystems for biomedical innovation.
