Respiratory Care Developments Amid the COVID-19 Crisis

The coronavirus pandemic took our modern world by surprise. With now over 1.5 million confirmed cases and 100,000+ lethal ones, the virus is affecting each aspect of our lives. Thus said, MedTech companies are now on the verge of changing the way they operate, plan, redistribute resources and deliver services and products. From building strategies to uniting with other industry leaders, there is one sole purpose – to fight the virus.

How does the industry face the changing demands? →
Current Landscape →
Unusual alliances fight the shortage in tech and supplies →
MedTech experts express concerns in future cross-industry developments →
Repurposing existing technology →
CPAP and BiPAP machines →
“Co-venting” is saving lives in New York. Experts doubt it’s a sustainable strategy →
The way forward →

OEMs are pushed to their limits to ramp-up production due to sharp changes in hospital demands. Such example is the ventilator availability – now 10 times lower than what’s needed. [1]

Companies now revamp and develop new remote patient monitoring solutions.
Patients can interpret symptoms through online care assistants and chatbots.
AI applications offer upgrades for frontline healthcare professionals for quick and accurate assessment of the damages the virus causes.

Current Landscape

Ventilator shortage is an arising issue worldwide. In non-extreme environment, a hospital would need a few ventilation machines. During such pandemic, one facility needs one per critically ill patient. [2] US hospitals have approximately 170,000 available ventilators. The ultimate amount, however, exceeds 740,000. [3] European leaders are taking a different approach to reduce the damage. On the Old continent, where the virus cases surge exponentially to the lack of hospital equipment, politicians are urging for an increase in ventilator production. Priority are the most affected countries like Italy and Spain. [4] This opens the floor for several questions:

Should alternative ways of production be put in place?
Is revamping existing tech to serve the needs of the patients an optimal solution?
Should new players, such as established car manufacturers or aerospace engineering companies, enter the MedTech market by producing ventilators and other respiratory care products?

Unusual alliances fight the shortage in tech and supplies

Big automakers General Motors, Ford and Tesla are partnering with ventilator manufacturers to increase in times their production in response to the COVID-19 crisis. GM and its partner Ventec Life Systems are planning to produce 10 times more than the usual 200 ventilators a month. Medical professionals expect the first shipment of newly developed ventilators before the end of April. [5]

Ford is collaborating with one of the biggest OEMs – GE Healthcare. They have licensed a ventilator design from Airon Corp and plan to produce as many as 50,000 pieces by July. Scaling the production of a simplified ventilator design from GE Healthcare is another initiative in development. [6]

Elon Musk’s automotive venture – Tesla joins the battle against COVID-19. The company retooled its available car parts to design and assemble the much needed respiratory machines. Tesla engineers aim to use as many car parts as possible. [7]

Answering the call to help is a new far-reaching industrial group called Ventilator Challenge UK. The consortium consists of leading companies from the automotive, aerospace and medical sectors. UK- based F1 teams, the aerospace manufacturer Airbus, Siemens Healthineers and Microsoft are a few of the big players taking part in this initiative.[8] The group is redefining the ways of production, whilst meeting all the requirements for safety and reliability.

F1 teams are taking care of the design and the refining of new components
Airbus offers its 3D printing and production facilities to produce prototypes and components. [9]

Tesla engineers showcase the ventilator manufacturing process.

California-based Virgin Orbit provides launch solutions for small satellites. The company develops new mass-producible bridge ventilators, driven by a windshield-wiper motor. The device can help patients who do not need intensive care or have partially recovered, leaving the top-line machines for the ones with more serious respiratory issues. [10]

MedTech experts express concerns over future cross-industry developments

Disturbed by the penetration of automotive companies in respiratory ventilator manufacturing, healthcare tech makers voiced out their concerns. Their prime belief is that the technology should remain in the hands of those who have years of experience and in-depth knowledge. [11] Another concern industry leaders have, has to do with intellectual property. Medical device producers are cautious when working with third parties. Ventilator designs and software are often subject of trademarks, patents and intellectual property rights.

Repurposing existing technology

Repurposing available technology is another way to fight the crisis. The FDA issued a wide- ranging emergency policy, allowing the use of alternative devices as potentially lifesaving ventilators. The agency is also working towards removing barriers for companies that want to produce ventilators and other respiratory care technology. [12]

CPAP and BiPAP machines

The new policy covers anesthesia gas hardware, positive-pressure breathing devices and home continuous positive airway pressure machines (CPAP) used to treat sleep apnea. [13] Experts suggested ways to revamp the bilevel positive airway pressure ventilator (BiPAP), another non-invasive machine. The way to modify the BiPAP from non-invasive to invasive ventilator is by removing the mask, adding an adapter, and attaching it to an intubation tube. [14] These methods have caused controversy amongst some physicians at the fore front of the coronavirus battle. Anesthesiologists find the use of non-invasive respiratory devices problematic for patients with acute respiratory failure. The primary concern is these machines potentially increasing the risk of infectious transmission. [15]

“Co-venting” is saving lives in New York. Experts doubt it’s a sustainable strategy

Another solution that some hospitals are implementing is the so called “co-venting.” Attempting to fight the virus while ventilators availability has decreased, New York hospitals now have two patients connected to the same ventilator. [16] Medical experts criticise the act, although this method might help redistribute the lifesaving technology. They emphasised on the fact that that way two patients would get an uneven amount of oxygen, calling the act unproven and unhealthy. [17]

The way forward

The overwhelming response to the ventilator shortage is just one example of how the novel coronavirus pandemic is affecting the business. A positive and foreseeable move is for companies with unique backgrounds to team up. Such alliances would speed up the production of needed consumables and tech by providing facilities, manpower and new technology. Expected are new players on the MedTech market, more cross-industry alliances and a rise of new, cost-effective and easier to produce respiratory devices.

Changes are occurring on a daily basis.

Sources

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