OneLegacy Launches Western U.S.’s First Organ Procurement Organization-Based Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion Program to Expand Access to Lung Transplantation
OneLegacy, the nonprofit organ procurement organization (OPO) serving Southern California, has announced the launch of the first in-house Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion (EVLP) program at an organ procurement organization in the Western United States. The initiative is being established through a strategic partnership with XVIVO, a global medical technology company specializing in organ preservation technologies, and Perfusion Solution, a provider of organ perfusion expertise and clinical support services.
The new program will operate from OneLegacy’s Azusa Recovery and Transplant Center, a specialized donor recovery facility designed to support advanced organ preservation technologies. The center will utilize XVIVO’s XPS™ Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion platform, while Perfusion Solution will provide experienced perfusion specialists, clinical services, and technical support to help manage the EVLP process.
The collaboration represents a significant advancement in organ transplantation by enabling donated lungs to remain functional outside the human body while specialized clinical teams evaluate, preserve, and prepare them for transplantation. By extending the period during which donor lungs can be safely assessed, the program aims to increase the number of lungs considered suitable for transplantation, improve surgical planning, and ultimately provide more patients with access to life-saving transplant procedures.
Addressing the Growing Need for Donor Lungs
Lung transplantation remains one of the most effective treatment options for patients with end-stage lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pulmonary fibrosis, cystic fibrosis, pulmonary hypertension, and other severe respiratory disorders.
However, the availability of suitable donor lungs continues to be one of the greatest challenges facing transplant medicine.
Although thousands of organs are donated each year, only a relatively small proportion of donated lungs ultimately become suitable for transplantation.
Many donated lungs are declined because clinicians have limited time to evaluate their function or because the organs initially appear marginal based on traditional assessment methods.
As a result, numerous patients remain on transplant waiting lists while potentially transplantable lungs go unused.
Advanced preservation technologies such as Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion are helping address this critical shortage by providing physicians with additional information and time to determine whether donor lungs can safely be transplanted.
What Is Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion?
Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion is an advanced organ preservation technology that allows donated lungs to remain functioning outside the body in a carefully controlled environment.
Unlike conventional cold-storage preservation, EVLP continuously circulates a specially formulated preservation solution together with oxygen through the lungs.
This process maintains lung function while allowing clinical teams to monitor how the organs perform before transplantation.
During EVLP, physicians can evaluate several important characteristics, including:
- Lung oxygenation capacity
- Airway function
- Blood circulation
- Tissue integrity
- Overall organ performance
Because the lungs remain physiologically active throughout the evaluation period, clinicians gain valuable functional information that cannot be obtained through traditional preservation techniques alone.
This additional data helps transplant teams make more informed decisions regarding organ suitability.
Expanding the Pool of Transplantable Lungs
One of the primary goals of the new EVLP program is to increase the number of donor lungs that ultimately reach transplant recipients.
Traditionally, transplant surgeons often have only a short window of time to evaluate donor lungs before deciding whether to proceed with transplantation.
When uncertainty exists regarding organ quality, lungs may be declined due to concerns about patient safety.
Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion extends the evaluation period, allowing physicians to observe organ performance under controlled conditions before making transplantation decisions.
This additional assessment time may enable clinical teams to reconsider donor lungs that otherwise might have been rejected.
As a result, more donated organs could potentially become available for patients awaiting transplantation.
Enhancing Surgical Planning
Beyond improving organ evaluation, EVLP also provides important logistical advantages.
Because lungs can remain preserved for longer periods while continuing to function, transplant centers gain additional flexibility when coordinating complex surgical procedures.
This extended preservation window allows physicians to:
- Schedule transplant surgeries more efficiently
- Coordinate multidisciplinary surgical teams
- Optimize recipient preparation
- Reduce time pressures during organ allocation
- Improve communication between donor and recipient hospitals
The increased flexibility may also contribute to improved patient outcomes by allowing transplant procedures to be performed under more controlled circumstances.
Supporting Broader Organ Sharing
Longer preservation times may also facilitate transportation of donor lungs across greater geographic distances.
Traditionally, the limited preservation window for lungs has restricted how far organs can safely travel between donor hospitals and transplant centers.
With EVLP, lungs may remain viable for longer periods, potentially allowing organs to reach recipients located farther away.
This expanded geographic reach could improve organ sharing throughout the Western United States while increasing access for patients served by multiple transplant programs.
According to OneLegacy, more than 70 transplant centers across the western region may ultimately benefit from access to the organization’s regional EVLP hub.
OneLegacy’s Role in Organ Donation
For nearly five decades, OneLegacy has served as the federally designated nonprofit organ procurement organization responsible for coordinating organ, eye, and tissue donation throughout Southern California.
Working closely with hospitals, donor families, transplant centers, and healthcare professionals, the organization facilitates organ recovery and allocation for patients awaiting transplantation.
The establishment of an in-house EVLP program reflects OneLegacy’s broader commitment to adopting innovative technologies that improve organ utilization and maximize the life-saving impact of each donated organ.
By integrating advanced preservation capabilities directly into its donor recovery operations, the organization seeks to strengthen collaboration between donor hospitals and transplant programs while improving transplantation opportunities.
Specialized Infrastructure at the Azusa Recovery and Transplant Center
The EVLP program will operate from OneLegacy’s Azusa Recovery and Transplant Center, a dedicated facility specifically designed to support advanced donor recovery procedures.
The center provides specialized infrastructure capable of accommodating sophisticated organ preservation technologies while facilitating coordination among recovery teams, perfusion specialists, and transplant clinicians.
Housing the EVLP platform within an organ procurement organization allows donor lungs to undergo evaluation immediately following recovery without requiring transfer to another specialized facility.
This integrated approach may improve efficiency while simplifying coordination throughout the transplantation process.
Collaboration with XVIVO
The program is being implemented using XVIVO’s XPS™ Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion platform, one of the leading technologies developed for donor lung assessment and preservation.
XVIVO has focused extensively on developing technologies that preserve and evaluate donor organs outside the body, supporting efforts to increase organ utilization worldwide.
The company’s organ preservation systems have become important tools for transplant programs seeking to improve donor organ assessment while expanding transplantation opportunities.
By partnering with OneLegacy, XVIVO extends access to its technology through an organ procurement organization-based model rather than limiting its use exclusively to transplant centers.
This approach has the potential to improve regional collaboration while making advanced preservation technology available to a larger network of healthcare providers.
Perfusion Solution Provides Clinical Expertise
Perfusion Solution complements the partnership by providing specialized personnel and clinical expertise required for successful EVLP operations.
The company supplies experienced perfusion specialists responsible for managing the complex procedures involved in maintaining donor lungs outside the body.
These professionals oversee:
- Organ perfusion
- Equipment operation
- Clinical monitoring
- Technical support
- Quality assurance
Their expertise helps ensure that donor lungs are preserved under optimal conditions while generating reliable clinical information for transplant decision-making.
The collaboration illustrates how technology providers, clinical specialists, and organ procurement organizations can work together to strengthen transplantation infrastructure.
Leadership Perspectives
OneLegacy Chief Executive Officer Prasad Garimella described the launch of the EVLP program as another important step in the organization’s long-standing mission to honor every donor’s gift by maximizing opportunities for life-saving transplantation.
He noted that OneLegacy has collaborated with hospitals and transplant centers for nearly 50 years to advance organ donation through innovation and emphasized that the new technology provides additional opportunities to increase the number of patients who receive donor organs.
Christoffer Rosenblad, Chief Executive Officer of XVIVO, highlighted the importance of collaboration in advancing transplantation.
According to Rosenblad, meaningful progress requires strong partnerships that expand access to innovative technologies while strengthening the broader transplant ecosystem.
He emphasized XVIVO’s vision that no patient should die while waiting for a life-saving organ transplant.
Jon Bohannen, Chief Donor Service Officer and Executive Vice President of Perfusion Solution, noted that the partnership demonstrates the value of combining advanced perfusion technology with specialized clinical expertise.
He stated that OneLegacy’s development of an organ procurement organization-centered regional EVLP hub represents an important collaborative model capable of improving donor lung evaluation, enhancing coordination among transplant teams, and honoring more donor gifts by creating additional transplantation opportunities.
Meeting an Ongoing National Need
According to transplant organizations, more than one thousand patients in the United States are currently waiting for a life-saving lung transplant.
Despite continued efforts to increase organ donation, the supply of transplantable lungs remains significantly below clinical demand.
Many donated lungs continue to be declined because physicians lack sufficient time or information to confidently determine whether transplantation is appropriate.
Advanced preservation technologies such as EVLP are helping address this challenge by expanding evaluation capabilities and increasing confidence in donor organ assessment.
As these technologies become more widely adopted, healthcare organizations hope to improve organ utilization while reducing mortality among patients awaiting transplantation.
The launch of OneLegacy’s in-house Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion program marks a significant milestone in the advancement of organ preservation and transplantation across the Western United States. Through its partnership with XVIVO and Perfusion Solution, the organization is introducing advanced technology that enables donated lungs to remain functional outside the body, providing transplant teams with additional time and clinical information to evaluate organ suitability.
By establishing the region’s first organ procurement organization-based EVLP program, OneLegacy aims to increase the number of donor lungs available for transplantation, improve coordination among more than 70 transplant centers, and expand access to life-saving procedures for patients with advanced lung disease. As innovation in organ preservation continues to evolve, collaborative initiatives such as this are expected to play an increasingly important role in maximizing the impact of organ donation and improving outcomes for transplant recipients throughout the United States.
ABOUT ONELEGACY
As the largest organ and tissue recovery organization in the country by population, OneLegacy enables nearly 2,000 organ transplants and nearly 150,000 tissue transplants each year by serving more than 200 hospitals, 8 transplant centers, and a diverse population of over 20 million people throughout seven counties in Southern California. More information on OneLegacy or on becoming a donor is available at www.onelegacy.org.
ABOUT XVIVO
Founded in 1998, XVIVO is dedicated to extending the life of all major organs – so transplant teams around the world can save more lives. Our solutions allow leading clinicians and researchers to push the boundaries of transplantation medicine. XVIVO is headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, and has offices and research sites on two continents. The company is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm under the ticker symbol XVIVO. For more, visit XVIVO online.
ABOUT PERFUSION SOLUTION
Perfusion Solution was established in 2007 and is the fastest growing perfusion service provider in the U.S. Over the past 19 years, the company has expanded to offer cutting-edge and cost-effective solutions to its partner hospitals and organ recovery services for organ procurement organizations and transplant center nationwide. The mission of Perfusion Solution is to provide its affiliated hospitals and industry partners with superior quality clinical services, education and product representation. For more, visit Perfusion Solution online.