3M (NYSE:MMM) and Ford Motor Co. announced that they are entering into a partnership in an effort to increase the production of 3M’s PAPRs (powered air-purifying respirators) in response to the shortages caused by the coronavirus outbreak. The two companies plan to collaborate on specific means to rapidly combine each others’ capabilities and resources to meet […]
COVID-19
SGI-DNA touts its automated gene printer for coronavirus vaccine development
Synthetic biology company SGI-DNA is touting its efforts to accelerate research in the creation of vaccines for SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing the COVID-19 pandemic. The San Diego-based company said in a news release last month that it built the genes thought to be critical to developing successful vaccines against the virus and made those tools available as […]
Zoll says it will make 10k ventilators a month
Zoll Medical Corp. announced that it is increasing its manufacturing capacity to 10,000 ventilators per month in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Chelsmford, Mass.–based Zoll reached out to its supply base, which is mostly stationed in the U.S., to enlist its support as it ramps up its ventilator production nearly 25-fold compared to recent production […]
University of Minnesota researcher touts makeshift $150 ventilator to treat coronavirus
The University of Minnesota is touting makeshift ventilators made from $150 in parts as potential solutions amid the shortage of equipment at healthcare facilities during the COVID-19 outbreak. According to a report in the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, researchers tested the prototype on a pig, keeping the animal breathing for an hour and confirming the possibility of […]
Smiths Medical ramps up ventilator production
Smiths Medical announced that it is increasing the production of its Parapac Plus ventilator to meet increased demand in the United Kingdom and across Europe. The company’s Luton, England site is where production will be ramped up over the next two weeks, according to a news release. Smiths is also working with contract manufacturers in […]
Conformis furloughs a third of its employees amid coronavirus pandemic
Conformis (NSDQ:CFMS) announced today that it is furloughing a third of its employees and tossed out its 2020 financial guidance amid the coronavirus crisis. The Billerica, Mass.–based orthopedic arthroplasty technology company’s furlough includes approximately 80 employees and substantially all of its temporary workforce, effective today. Conformis said it identified essential and non-essential functions to its business […]
Cepheid wins emergency use nod from FDA for bedside coronavirus test
Danaher Corp. (NYSE:DHR) subsidiary Cepheid announced that it received emergency use authorization from the FDA for its bedside Xpert Xpress SARS-CoV-2 test for detecting the virus causing the COVID-19 outbreak. The rapid molecular diagnostic test is designed to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing coronavirus while operating on any of Cepheid’s GeneXpert systems worldwide, with a detection […]
MedTech Europe wants halt of EU MDR implementation amid coronavirus crisis
Trade association MedTech Europe announced today that it is calling on EU institutions to postpone the implementation of the new Medical Devices Regulation and In Vitro Diagnostics Regulation (IVDR) amid the outbreak of COVID-19. Medical device companies have been scrambling to meet the implementation of the new MDR and IVDR. May 26 has been a […]
Novacyt reports skyrocketing demand for its coronavirus test
Novacyt announced that its Primerdesign molecular diagnostics division sold and received orders for more than $10.1 million (£8.7 million) of its COVID-19 tests. The company’s United Kingdom–based molecular diagnostics arm offered the update on its CE-Marked, research-use-only coronavirus tests, having previously announced that it sold and received orders for over $5 million of its tests […]
DeviceTalks Weekly: Ep. 2 – Medtech goes to war with COVID-19
In this week’s DeviceTalks Weekly Podcast, we’ll talk about medtech’s essential role in the escalating war against COVID-19. We’ll visit with Fluidda CEO Jan De Backer and Kevin Thornal, division president of diagnostic solutions at Hologic. The executives will explain how their imaging and diagnostic devices – which both received recent FDA approval – will […]
How are U.S.-based ventilator companies doing?
The U.S. is one of many countries facing new restrictions, quarantines and, due to high demand, shortages of important medical equipment to help combat the coronavirus pandemic. As hospitals and healthcare facilities report the need for more equipment, and with the government potentially invoking a statute that could ramp up protective equipment manufacturing even more, […]