Xerox (NYSE:XRX) and Vortran Medical Technology announced that they are collaborating to speed and scale production of Vortran’s GO2Vent ventilator and related APM-Plus airway pressure monitor in the fight against COVID-19. Both companies plan to rapidly scale up production from approximately 40,000 ventilators in April to between 150,000 and 200,000 ventilators per month by June […]
coronavirus
Here at MassDevice — medtech's online business journal — we're covering news about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic daily. Here is the latest about coronavirus and the medical device industry, regulatory changes related to the pandemic, new tests for the virus, vaccine development, and much more.
Mullen Technologies starts manufacturing portable ventilatlors
Electric car maker Mullen Technologies announced today that it starting to manufacture portable ventilators out of its facility in Monrovia, Calif. Brea, Calif.-based Mullen Technologies is using the Monrovia high-voltage battery R&D center to manufacture its Mullen 8 ventilator system in response to the shortage of equipment faced by hospitals around the world during the […]
Mesa ships 10,000 COVID-19 rapid tests
Mesa Biotech announced today that it is shipping 10,000 of its Accula SARS-CoV-2 molecular rapid point-of-care tests this week for detecting COVID-19. The San Diego-based company’s palm-sized testing platform is designed to enable “near-patient” testing outside a central laboratory with diagnostic results in 30 minutes. Accula uses reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technology to […]
COVID-19 upends medtech’s financial outlook
The uncertain times brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have affected businesses worldwide, and several sectors of medtech industry are projecting hits to their bottom lines. A number of companies have announced decisions to withdraw financial guidance, cut hours and/or staff, among other major business decisions. Initial impacts of the global pandemic on Wall Street […]
Zimmer Biomet CEO forgoing his salary amid coronavirus pandemic
Zimmer Biomet (NYSE:ZBH) announced that president & CEO Bryan Hanson is forgoing 100% of his salary among other steps the company is taking in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The orthopedics company said after yesterday’s market close that it is cutting pay for its leadership team and board of directors. According to Zimmer Biomet’s most recent […]
Foxconn to produce Medtronic ventilators in new Wisconsin plant
Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) CEO Omar Ishrak said yesterday that the medtech giant is partnering with Foxconn Technology Group to manufacture ventilators at Taiwan-based Foxconn’s plant in Wisconsin to treat the sickest COVID-19 patients. In an interview with CNBC, Ishrak said he didn’t know how many ventilators the deal will produce, but said production will begin in the […]
Apple to make 1 million face shields a week for healthcare workers
Apple (NSDQ:AAPL) is engaging in a company-wide effort in which its product designers, engineering, operations, packaging teams, and suppliers are designing and producing face shields for healthcare workers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, CEO Tim Cook recently announced. Apple received positive feedback after the first shipment of face shields arrived at Kaiser Permanente […]
3M agrees with Trump to import an additional 166.5m respirators into U.S.
President Donald Trump and 3M (NYSE:MMM) today agreed that the manufacturing conglomerate will import an additional 166.5 million respirators from its China plant over the next three months. The imports will come on top of the 35 million N95 respirators per month that 3M is presently manufacturing in the United States. The deal — which Trump […]
Hospital survey reveals front-line needs, desperate measures
Hospitals across the U.S. have begun resorting to unorthodox means of replacing or sanitizing personal protective equipment (PPE) and atypical sourcing of PPE and other supplies needed to fight the coronavirus pandemic, according to a government survey. The Department of Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) conducted the random survey of 323 hospitals […]
CDRH gives medtech manufacturers employee coronavirus safety tips
As certain medtech companies continue ramping up production of devices and components to fight the coronavirus, the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) on Sunday announced several tips to help protect medtech manufacturing employees from contracting COVID-19. In addition to frequent and thorough hand-washing, maintaining social distancing and avoiding face-touching, the agency urged […]
Could Alexa help fight coronavirus?
The Amazon Echo smart home device may inadvertently prove to be a useful tool battling the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Among the many features of the smart speaker device, and those on the market that are similar to it, are capabilities as a public health tool. According to a column in The New York Times, these […]