Electronics manufacturer Vexos said this week that it has signed an agreement with the government of Canada to manufacture 10,000 mechanical ventilators for COVID-19 patients in that country.
The LaGrange, Ohio-based company said it will build the ventilators, known as Mechanical Ventilator Milano (MVM), under an exclusive license agreement with Elemaster Group for the Americas. Vexos said it is also working closely with JMP Solutions, a London, Ontario company that specializes in industrial robotics, control systems, and systems automation in the manufacture of the ventilator.
The MVM ventilator was developed by the International MVM Group as a simple but powerful ventilator designed to address the specific needs for the care and recovery of severely affected COVID-19 patients. The group was formed by an international consortium of Italian, U.S. and Canadian physicists, engineers and companies organized in early March 2020 to bring the MVM ventilator from project initiation to FDA emergency use authorization within 6 weeks. The Canadian arm of the International MVM Group is led by Queen’s University professor emeritus Art McDonald, a co-recipient of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics.
The ventilator will undergo Health Canada review for interim approval and deliveries of units are expected to begin in July, according to Vexos, which has a plant in Markham, Ontario.
“We are extremely honored to be working with an international group of innovators who were able to design and develop the MVM Ventilator in a very short timeframe. The order from the Government of Canada is a testament to not only international collaboration, but also collaboration within Canada between governmental, institutional and business entities focused on delivering rapid solutions in national mobilization efforts against the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Vexos president & CEO Paul Jona in a news release. “During these challenging times, it’s important that we contribute where we can to assist our communities.”
