#55 - Reinventing organ transportation - Lisa Anderson - Paragonix Technologies

Do you know how organs are traditionally transported for transplantation purposes? In a cooler filled with ice. When I learned that this approach was the most widespread method, I admit I was quite shocked... We talk here about "living" organs whose preservation is crucial for the success of their transplant! And as you can imagine, these transplants are often vital. The good news is: some people have racked their brains and rolled up their sleeves to change all that! And one of them is none other than Lisa Anderson, Co-Founder and President of Paragonix Technologies. With her team, she has literally redefined how organs could be transported, wiping the slate clean of an archaic, despite standard method. Last year, their technology was named one of TIME's 200 Best Inventions in the Medical Care category. A technology that allows organs to be preserved and monitored under ideal conditions of temperature, pressure, and perfusion. Since its creation in 2010, the company has enabled the transport of over 10,000 hearts, lungs, kidneys, livers, and pancreases combined to date. A paradigm shift, which not only allows for better preservation of these tissues during transport, but is also accompanied by a surprising improvement in transplant outcomes, and helps democratise access to them. In this episode of Impulse, we talk about all of this with Lisa, from the complexity of developing such a system to the change management required to lead to its acceptance in the medical field. And everything that this changes for the patients who benefit from it every day. A conversation that dusts off a long-established medical practice and lifts the veil on a unique MedTech success story! Timeline: 00:00:00 - How Lisa got into the transplantation and organ transportation space 00:05:54 - The criticality of organ preservation before a graft 00:08:27 - The parameters to control when transporting organs 00:11:38 - The benefits of improved organ preservation on graft success 00:19:01 - Paragonix Technologies' clients and commercial models 00:21:20 - Sustainability considerations in the organ transportation business 00:25:29 - Paragonix Technologies' plans for geographic expansion 00:28:00 - The journey from A to Z of an organ between its donor and recipient 00:30:56 - Changing practices and mindsets around organ transportation 00:33:20 - The engineering challenges around the creation of Paragonix Technologies' first products 00:40:07 - Matching better the demand and supply of organ transplants What we also talked about with Lisa: Getinge As mentioned by Lisa during the episode, you can have a read at Paragonix Technologies' latest publications here and find out more about their products and technology on their website. You can get in touch with Lisa via LinkedIn, and follow Paragonix Technologies' activities on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, and YouTube. If you want to give me feedback on the episode or suggest potential guests, contact me over LinkedIn or via email! And if you liked the episode, please share it, subscribe to the podcast, and leave a 5-star review on streaming platforms! You can also support my work by doing a PayPal donation @ImpulsePodcast! Lastly, don't forget to follow our activities on LinkedIn and our website!