OrganOx Ltd, a world-leading organ medical technology company, today announced Health Canada has approved the OrganOx metra System for use during liver transplantation. Currently, the system is commercially available for liver transplantation in the U.S., the U.K., and the European Union. The company plans to launch the system commercially in Canada in 2025.
 
“We are thrilled to receive this authorization in Canada, further advancing our vision to improve clinical outcomes for liver transplant patients around the globe,” said Craig Marshall, CEO of OrganOx. “In the coming months, we look forward to introducing the metra to transplant centers across Canada.”
 
The OrganOx metra System uses normothermic machine perfusion (NMP) to circulate oxygenated blood, medications, and nutrients to donated organs at normal body temperature and near physiological conditions. This technology extends organ preservation time, allows pre-transplant clinical assessment of organ viability, and can improve operational logistics for transplant teams and patients.¹
 
The metra system’s performance has been evaluated across several clinical trials, including the Consortium for Organ Preservation in Europe (COPE) European Trial, the first randomized trial to assess machine perfusion versus static cold storage in liver transplantation. The OrganOx metra achieved a 50% lower level of graft injury despite a 54% longer mean preservation time,² compared to static cold storage. 
 

References:

¹ Watson, C.J.E, Gaurav, R., Fear, C. et al. Predicting Early Allograft Function After Normothermic Machine Perfusion. Transplantation 106(12): 2391–2398 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1097/TP.0000000000004263
² Nasralla, D., Coussios, C.C., Mergental, H. et al. A randomized trial of normothermic preservation in liver transplantation. Nature 557, 50–56 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0047-9