In manufacuring win, three Indian companies gets license to make NASA's Covid ventilators

Three Indian origin companies have been given licenses by US Space agency NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California for manufacturing a new ventilator that uses one-seventh the parts of a traditional ventilator, designed for coronavirus patients. The three companies selected are Alpha Design Technologies, Bharat Forge and Medha Servo Drives.

Apart from the three Indian companies, NASA has selected 18 more companies from around the world to manufacture the life-saving machine.

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The Department of State took to Twitter to congratulate the Indian companies and also to endorse the US-India relationship.

"Congrats to the 3 Indian companies @NASA selected to make a ventilator specifically designed to treat COVID19 patients. Only 21 licenses were granted worldwide -- a testament to the grantees and the importance of the US-India partnership to combat COVID-19," Bureau of south and central Asian Affairs tweeted. 

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The JPL engineers designed the special ventilator, called VITAL (Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally), in little over a month and received ‘Emergency Use Authorization’ from the Food and Drug Administration. VITAL will offer a convenient and affordable option for treating critical patients while freeing up traditional ventilators for those with the most severe COVID-19 symptoms. It is claimed to be flexible design means it also can be modified for use in field hospitals.

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Leon Alkalai, manager of the JPL Office of Strategic Partnerships and a member of the VITAL leadership team said "VITAL team is very excited to see their technology licensed. Our hope is to have this technology reach across the world and provide an additional source of solutions to deal with the on-going COVID-19 crisis".

VITAL developed with input from doctors & medical device manufacturers

VITAL was developed with input from doctors and medical device manufacturers. A model of the JPL device was successfully tested by the Human Simulation Lab in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at Mount Sinai on April 23. A modified design, which uses compressed air and can be deployed by a greater range of hospitals, was recently tested at the UCLA Simulation Center in Los Angeles. A high-fidelity lung simulator tested almost 20 different ventilator settings, representing a number of scenarios that could be seen in critically ill patients in an intensive care unit.

"VITAL performed well in simulation testing with both precise and reproducible results," said Dr Tisha Wang, clinical chief of the UCLA Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. "In addition, the setup and operation of the ventilator were quick and user-friendly. The UCLA team commends JPL for actively contributing to the COVID-19 response and successfully addressing one of the key medical needs in the sickest group of patients."

The compressed-air design also has been submitted to the FDA for a ventilator Emergency Use Authorization and is currently under review.

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(With inputs from ANI)