OrganOx, an Oxford university spinout that enables donor organs to be kept healthy outside the body before transplantation, has been sold to Terumo Corporation, a Japanese medical technology company, for $1.5bn.
The deal announced on Monday is the largest acquisition of any UK university spinout so far, said Oxford vice-chancellor Irene Tracey. It follows the sale of the university’s quantum computing start-up Oxford Ionics to US group IonQ in June for $1.1bn.
OrganOx was founded by professors Constantin Coussios and Peter Friend in 2008 to keep removed organs functioning for longer than traditional methods, by circulating warm oxygen-rich fluid through them to replicate conditions inside the body.