Paragonix Technologies announced today that it launched its LUNGguard donor lung preservation system in the U.S. and Europe.
Cambridge, Mass.–based Paragonix designed the LUNGguard for the hypothermic preservation of lungs during transportation and the eventual transplantation into a recipient using cold storage solutions. LUNGguard is indicated for a storage time of up to eight hours, having received FDA 510(k) clearance in February 2020.
LUNGguard, which is based on the architecture of Paragonix’s previously launched SherpaPak cardiac transport system, is designed to ease the stress of donor and transplant centers where the standard of care is packaging lungs in sterile bags on crushed ice without the ability to maintain the conditions of the organ.
Development for LUNGguard was supported by a collaboration with the Lung Transplant Foundation and its president, Jeffery Goldstein, who said in a news release that “the need for this device has never been greater.”
“We are incredibly grateful for the support of the Lung Transplant Foundation and our partner clinicians who have helped get us to this point,” Paragonix Technologies chairman & CEO Bill Edelman said in the release. “Based on clinician interest and requests, our teams have been working tirelessly to accelerate the availability of the LUNGguard System to help ensure that every donor lung arrives in the best possible condition for a transplant patient who needs it. Right now, we are coordinating with several centers to support the initial clinical cases with this system.”