Transporting life: TransMedics and Mercedes-Benz revolutionize transplants in Italy.

Bringing life from one city to another, quickly and in conditions of absolute safety.

This is the mission that unites TransMedics Group, an American company founded in 1998 and headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts, a leader in transplant technologies, and Mercedes-Benz Group AG, automotive giant, who announced at Milano a strategic collaboration.

The project, presented at the 48th National Congress of the Italian Society of Organ and Tissue Transplantation (SITE), provides for the creation of the first land transport network dedicated exclusively to organs for transplant. The beating heart of the initiative will be a fleet of modern mercedes-benz v-class, specially designed and equipped to meet the rigorous requirements required for organ transport.

Italian hubs: a network to reach everywhere

Da MilanoRome, Padua, and Bari will launch the first four Italian hubs of the National OCS Program (NOP) by the end of 2025. They will serve as operational bases to ensure national coverage.
The command center will be located at Saint Julia, Milano, from where a widespread logistics network will be coordinated, integrated both by road and by air. Each hub will be equipped with platforms OCS Lung, Heart and Liver and will be managed by teams of highly specialized clinicians. These professionals will be responsible for accompanying the organs during their journeys, constantly monitoring their condition aboard Mercedes vans.

“The most beautiful thing after so much effort and hard work is that the patient, after a few days, wakes up and can return to his normal life, live his family, his passions; this is what motivates us,” these are the words of Grazie Nicastro, OCS specialist.

A technology that pushes the boundaries of possibility

At the heart of the meeting was the presentation of theOrgan Care System (OCS), the only multi-organ platform approved by the FDA in the United States and CE certified in Europe. It is a portable platform capable of maintaining organs intended for transplant – heart, lungs and liver – in a near-physiological state outside the human body.

In other words, organs that until yesterday could only survive a few hours on ice today continue to beat, breathe, and live. This allows surgeons to monitor their vitality in real time, improve their condition, and above all, to increase the number of organs actually suitable for transplant.

The potential impact is enormousEvery year, thousands of patients die on waiting lists due to a lack of available organs. With OCS, that list could be shortened, giving many a chance at a new life. A silent revolution, but with enormous potential.

In detail:

• OCS Heart It keeps the heart metabolically active, allowing doctors to check its function and vitality before the transplant.
• OCS Lung It is the only device authorized for the perfusion and ventilation of lungs, including those from donors with “extended” criteria, often excluded from traditional protocols.
• OCS Liver It is instead approved for the livers of both DCD (heart-dead donors, after the interruption of intensive care) and DBD (brain-dead donors).

A technological range that, for the first time, allows a multi-organ approach, with a single platform logic: optimize quality, validate viability, increase availability.

Mercedes-Benz vans: when transport becomes therapy

These are not just means of transport. The Mercedes-Benz V-Class chosen for the project were made with Advanced technical specifications: large spaces to allow medical personnel to work during the race, latest-generation safety systems, and a setup designed to protect organs and operators.

“This collaboration between TransMedics and Mercedes-Benz underlines our “We are committed to providing the best technology and services to save lives,” said Waleed Hassanein, MD, President and CEO of TransMedics. “Our NOP initiative in Italy represents a crucial first step in expanding access to our lifesaving OCS technology globally for patients in need.”

Dario Albano, Managing Director of Mercedes-Benz Vans Italia, added: “We are proud to support TransMedics with our vehicles first-class, designed for highly professional and critical operations. Together We aim to raise the standards of medical transport, allowing clinical teams to focus on what matters most: saving lives.”

The project isn't just about technology or resources: it's a vision that combines innovation, solidarity, and speed. "Move fast for the patients who count on us" can be seen as the motto that guides TransMedics, aware that behind every transplant is a life that can continue.

Organ transplantation is, forever, the result of a complex collaboration: donors, families, surgeons, technologies and healthcare facilities form a single ecosystem that works to save lives.

With the project launched in Milano, Italy becomes the European starting point for a new era of transplant medicine: an era in which We no longer transport objects, but something unique, rare and precious – life itself.

TransMedics' ultimate goal is ambitious: to transform the standard of care in transplantation. Not only by increasing the number of available organs, but also by improving clinical outcomes and reducing overall costs.

Previous 1 di 3 The next