News

June 2025

France invests € 4M in Orixha’s reprocessing factory of breathable liquid for liquid ventilation

Lyon and Paris, May 20, 2025 – Orixha, a MedTech pioneer in liquid ventilation, announces that its (L2B)2 project for the industrial reprocessing of the L2B breathable liquid has been selected by the Première Usine program of France 2030 and will receive a grant plus loan award of 4 million euros. This financial support will enable Orixha to launch the scale-up and industrial phases of an exemplary reprocessing process in terms of technological and environmental innovation. Scheduled for commissioning in 2028 in the Plaine de l’Ain Industrial Park, this factory is essential to the commercialization of its Vent2Cool solution for resuscitated cardiac arrest patients.

Living up to the ambitions of liquid ventilation

The reprocessing of Liquid2Breathe (L2B) breathable liquid, once industrialized in the Orixha factory, will meet the significant demand for total liquid ventilation solutions developed by Orixha based on its proprietary LuncoLive technology. The first of these applications, Vent2Cool, has been validated for clinical trials to improve survival and neurological outcomes for cardiac arrest patients. Vent2Cool treatment requires the use of several liters of sterile L2B per patient.

» Expectations of cardiac arrest specialists for Vent2Cool are very high, since two-thirds of their patients die in intensive care units within days of initial resuscitation by emergency services. France 2030’s major financial backing enables us to mobilize private investors and break out of a Catch-22 situation. Indeed, to meet the upcoming ICU demand for Vent2Cool, we need to market it at a price per patient acceptable to payers. To achieve this acceptable price, we need to industrialize the reprocessing of L2B prior to commercialization, in order to reduce the cost by a factor of four. Without the support of France 2030, investors and bankers are reluctant to bear the associated financial risk alone », insists Fabrice Paublant, CEO of Orixha, to explain the industrial and public health significance of this financing by the French State.

With the project, Orixha will structure a network of industrial partners around this cutting-edge innovation, to set up the production, reprocessing and reuse of the breathable liquid (Liquid2Breathe – L2B) in a safe manner compliant with environmental standards and regulatory requirements for medical devices. Orixha’s future factory in the Plaine de l’Ain Industrial Park will produce over 20,000 Vent2Cool treatment bags per year by 2031.

Reconciling Public Health and Ecological Exemplarity

Mickaël Libardi, Orixha’s R&D Technology Director and (L2B)² Project Manager, sums up the impact of the (L2B)² project. « This project will enable us to reprocess at industrial scale the L2B used on hospital patients and to obtain a reprocessed liquid with physical and chemical properties strictly identical to the new L2B, compatible with its reuse in new patients. The reprocessing is ecologically virtuous, since it will divide the carbon footprint by five, and will be operated in a factory that is itself exemplary in terms of energy efficiency and industrial risk prevention« .

Public health issues

Thanks to L2B, Total Liquid Ventilation (TLV) offers an innovative solution for treating patients in critical situations, such as cardiac arrest, with the Vent2Cool device. By 2031, Vent2Cool will save 3,000 lives in Europe and reduced neurological sequelae for 5,000 patients resuscitated after cardiac arrest. In view of the need to control healthcare costs, the aim is to provide Vent2Cool treatment at a cost that is financially acceptable in view of the clinical benefits, by halving the total cost per patient thanks to the reuse of the L2B breathable liquid.

Environmental impact

The reuse of L2B will reduce the carbon emissions associated with the synthesis of the breathable liquid and its destruction after use, through a drastic reduction in the quantities produced and destroyed compared to using only new L2B. It will also help reduce the eco-environmental risk through strict logistical control and management of the product’s life cycle.

With this initiative, Orixha is fully in line with France 2030’s Green Industry ambitions: to innovate in response to major public health challenges, to produce in France while respecting the environment, and to strengthen sovereignty in terms of essential treatments in the event of a health crisis.

March 2025

Publication of theOverCool clinical trial protocol

Publication of the OverCool clinical trial protocol – Performance and Safety validation of Vent2Cool in Post Cardiac Arrest Syndrome

The OverCool study represents a world premiere for Total Liquid_Ventilation (TLV), and in the spirit of transparency, we wanted, together with the authors of the protocol, to publish it in the journal Resuscitation Plus.

You can access it for free by clicking on the following link:

September 2024

ORIXHA obtains French Health Authority approval to initiate its feasibility clinical study in Post Cardiac Arrest Syndrome

Paris, September the 5th, 2024 – Orixha announced that it received the approval from the ANSM (French National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products) and the Ethics Committee for the OverCool study to be conducted at Hopital Cochin (APHP Paris). The OverCool study aims to achieve two major clinical breakthroughs. First, it will validate the ability to induce therapeutic hypothermia within 2 hours post resuscitation, in order to significantly improve survival and neurological outcomes for cardiac arrest patients. Secondly, the OverCool study will achieve a clinical world premiere for total liquid ventilation as Vent2Cool’s ultra-rapid cooling performance is powered by Orixha’s proprietary lung conservative liquid ventilation technology platform.

Answering the Need to Save more Lives from Post Cardiac Arrest Syndrome

One million cardiac arrests occur every year in Europe and the USA, most of them happening out of the hospital. In this case, about 30% of patients will be resuscitated by Emergency services and brought comatose in Intensive Care Units. Unfortunately, less than 10% will survive in good neurological condition. The majority – more than 150,000 patients every year – will succumb to Post Cardiac Arrest Syndrome (PCAS), for which there is no efficient therapeutic option.

PCAS occurs after prolonged cardiac arrest and causes an inflammatory storm that strikes the vital organs (brain, heart, liver and kidney).

Therapeutic hypothermia, lowering the body temperature to 33°C for 24 hours, is a well-known therapeutic modality against PCAS. Unfortunately, to date, cooling devices take hours to reach 33°C which is limiting their efficacy to blunt the PCAS cytokine storm.

« We recognize that the current therapeutic options for hypothermia are sub-optimal and therefore deliver a weak effect size in the general cardiac arrest population. The speed to cool the patient consistently is critical against PCAS. We welcome the opportunity to assess the potential added benefits of introducing ultra-rapid hypothermia induction in the protocol of care for cardiac arrest patients » explains Professor Alain Cariou, Principal Investigator of the OverCool study.

The OverCool Study – Pioneering a breakthrough in Therapeutic Hypothermia for Cardiac Arrest

OverCool is a First in Human Feasibility study for Orixha’s Vent2Cool ultra-rapid cooling device to be held in a leading cardiac Arrest Centers, starting with Hospital Cochin in Paris. It should begin in the next few months, thanks to the approval of national health authorities and ethics committees.

OverCool is designed to demonstrate the feasibility and safety of a breakthrough approach to Hypothermic Targeted Temperature Management (TTM) in Post Cardiac Arrest Syndrome. This approach combines the Vent2Cool device, delivering unique ultra-rapid hypothermia induction and best in class TTM device for maintenance and rewarming.

OverCool will show that ultra-rapid therapeutic hypothermia at 33°C is safe and can be efficacious in humans, paving the way for future demonstration of superior efficacy of Hypothermic TTM vs. Normothermic TTM as seen in relevant cardiac arrest animal models.

« For the ORIXHA team and our partners, the green light to the OverCool study strengthens our commitment to make ultra-rapid therapeutic hypothermia an efficient and safe therapeutic modality for resuscitated cardiac arrest patients » stated Fabrice Paublant, Orixha’s Chief Executive Officer.

For the OverCool study, the sponsor, Orixha, received financial support from the Programme d’Investissements d’Avenir PIA3 and the BD Foundation.

Powering a World Premiere in Total Liquid Ventilation

Vent2Cool is based on Orixha’s lung conservative total liquid ventilation platform, also called LuncoLive. Vent2Cool delivers ultra-rapid cooling by using the lungs as highly potent thermal exchangers. The Vent2Cool procedure, liquid ventilation with a temperature controlled breathable, is restricted to adult comatose resuscitated cardiac arrest patients and lasts less than one hour.

« The disruptive LuncoLive technology which powers Vent2Cool is based on 10 years of academic research by Orixha’s academic co-founders at Université de Sherbrooke and INSERM – Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort » added Pr Renaud Tissier, Orixha co-Founder, “OverCool will be a founding moment for Total Liquid Ventilation as it shows that is can be safely delivered to adult comatose patients for the first time in history. We are delighted to have obtained the authorizations to help our dream to save lives with Total Liquid Ventilation become a clinical reality”.

May 2024

Luncolive Project

The page dedicated to the Luncolive project is now online!

Consult it to find out about the progress of this R&D project on LUNCOLIVE technology funded by the EIC accelerator.

Apr 2024

Orixha raises 4 million euros from the EIC Fund and Bpifrance

Lyon and Paris, April 10, 2024 – Orixha announces that it has raised 4 million euros from the European Innovation Council Fund and the French Tech Seed fund, managed on behalf of the French government France 2030 initiative by Bpifrance. This financing will enable Orixha to develop and validate in the clinic its total liquid ventilation technology, starting with resuscitated cardiac arrest patients in critical care.

Liquid Ventilation: Dreams, Disillusions and New Clinical Hopes

James Cameron brought the idea of breathing a liquid to the big screen in his film Abyss back in 1989, based on scientific work carried out by Pr. Thomas Shaffer’s team. They had demonstrated that a liquid – perflubron – was 40 times more soluble in oxygen than water, enabling mammals to breathe it without drowning. The dream of liquid ventilation was born, opening clinical perspectives as an alternative to traditional mechanical gas ventilation.

In the 1990s, an American company initiated by a French researcher, Pr Jean Riess, develops an experimental partial liquid ventilation solution combining the use of a gaseous ventilator with static instillation of perflubron into the lungs. Following an initial clinical proof of concept, an international transatlantic clinical trial is launched to treat acute respiratory distress syndrome. Unfortunately, the results were disappointing: the rudimentary technology did not allow precise control of fluid volume and pressure in patients’ lungs.

Learning from the inherent limitations of partial liquid ventilation, the co-founders of Orixha work on a new liquid ventilation technology, called “total” and not “partial” liquid ventilation. Here, oxygen is loaded into the breathable liquid using a dedicated machine, called a liquid ventilator, and the patient is ventilated solely with this oxygenated liquid.

The development of these first medical liquid ventilators is the fruit of a collaboration between the Inolivent team led by Prof. Philippe Micheau at the University of Sherbrooke, and the INSERM team led by Prof. Renaud Tissier at the Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, with, since 2019, the involvement of the Orixha team. This transatlantic public-private effort led to the development and patenting of a total liquid ventilation technology called LuncoLive, the foundation of Orixha’s future medical devices.

LuncoLive’s first clinical application is the management of patients resuscitated after cardiac arrest using hypothermic liquid ventilation. Today, two of thirds of the 200,000 patients resuscitated from cardiac arrest every year in Europe and North America, succumb from Post Cardiac Arrest Syndrome within a few days. For some survivors, neurological sequelae can be seriously debilitating. The Vent2Cool ultra-rapid hypothermia solution should reduce mortality and neurological sequelae for these patients. It will be validated in an initial clinical trial scheduled to start this year.

« Thanks to our LuncoLive lung protective total liquid ventilation technology, implemented in Vent2Cool, we will finally be able to meet expectations for safe, effective ventilation with a breathable liquid. LuncoLive will enable patients to benefit from the unique properties of this liquid, which are extremely interesting for therapeutic hypothermia and respiratory distress » insists Mathieu Nadeau, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Orixha, who designed the first academic prototypes, more than ten years ago.

Becoming the world leader in liquid ventilation

Orixha is a DeepTech company, dedicated to the clinical and industrial development of total liquid ventilation medical devices. With a proof of concept and unique know-how, Orixha is now focusing on the clinical validation of LuncoLive technology and the regulatory and industrial development of its first medical device – Vent2Cool, with a view to commercialization by 2028.

This 5-year effort requires a strengthening of equity capital to the tune of around €20 million. A first tranche of €4 million has just been subscribed by the EIC Fund managed by the European Investment Bank on behalf of the European Innovation Council, Bpifrance’s French Tech Seeds fund that is managed by Bpifrance on behalf of the French government France 2030 initiative and Orixha’s historical shareholders.

« The entry of the European Investment Bank and Bpifrance into Orixha’s capital is a key step towards our goal of establishing liquid ventilation as a new reference clinical platform in Critical Care by 2030. This €4 million investment will enable us to carry out the first clinical validation of the safety and performance of our liquid ventilation technology, and to validate our industrial strategy, » explains F. Paublant, Chairman and CEO of Orixha.

The investment by the EIC Fund follows on from the EIC Accelerator’s selection of the LuncoLive project at the end of 2022. Svetoslava Georgieva, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the EIC Fund, commented: « We are delighted to participate in this round of financing for Orixha, and to be associated with its ambition to become the world leader in liquid ventilation. In doing so, we are supporting a breakthrough technology which, once approved by the health authorities, will save many lives, and which attests to the vitality of medical innovation in Europe« .

For Bpifrance, the investment in Orixha reflects a commitment to supporting DeepTech companies, which had already materialized in the form of grants awarded to Orixha, laureate of the i-Lab and i-Nov competitions. « We are delighted to be supporting Fabrice Paublant, an experienced entrepreneur, and his team, in a field where medical needs are very significant, and where there are few innovations. » explains Marielle Mailhes, Investment Director at Bpifrance.

Oct 2022

Orixha is laureate of the EIC Accelerator and receives 7,5 M€ for the LuncoLive project

With Luncolive, Orixha aims to promote the Liquid Ventilation as a new breakthrough technology in critical care.
Orixha announces that its Luncolive program has been selected by the European Innovation Council for a founding of 2.5 M€ and a capital investment of 5 M€, in order to improve the survival of post-cardiac arrest patients. This will allow to validate the clinical benefit of the Vent2Cool Solution in post-cardiac arrest syndrome and to explore and developp new medical applications in critical care.

Mar 2022

Orixha won the first prize for innovation at Medi'Nov Salon in Lyon

On march 31st, Orixha won the first prize of Innovation at Medi’Nov salon 2022. This competition was organized by the region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in France.

Nov 2021

Orixha raises 2 millions euros for the development of the Vent2Cool solution

Orixha just annonced a foundraising of 2 million euros from Angels Santé, Erganeo and its industrial partners : Infiplast, OEM Development et Activation. This first round will allow to finalize the medical device Vent2Cool before starting the first clinical trial in cardiac arrest patients.