New low-cost ventilator could remedy ventilator shortage in developing countries

A new low-cost ventilator design invented during COVID-19 could address the global shortage of ventilators for other respiratory illnesses.

Ventilators, needed by intensive care unit (ICU) patients with severe respiratory illnesses like COVID-19, influenza and tuberculosis, are both simpler and cheaper to manufacture than ventilators currently available.

Now, the creators of the designs hope that their promising technology, initially developed for short-term emergency ventilators in response to the coronavirus pandemic, will help address the shortage of mechanical ventilators in developing countries in the long term.

In a new article published in Frontiers of medical technology, the researchers behind the “RELAVENT” ventilator (formerly known as JAMVENT) have demonstrated that the design meets all of the performance requirements set out in ISO 80601, the international standard for critical care ventilators. The team also showed that the system works just as well with a home oxygen concentrator as it does with pressurized gas supplies like those found in hospitals.

The document also outlines the prototype designs and details the rigorous testing required for regulatory approval. They hope that after funding and approval as a medical device, ventilators can be used in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and new emerging economies (NEEs), which suffer from a historic long-term shortage of fans.

Critical care ventilators made by major manufacturers have historically been too expensive and complex for developing countries to purchase and maintain, so many poorer parts of the world simply have minimal access to ventilators. Additionally, most of the new ventilator designs created for COVID-19 were based on short-term emergency manufacturing and are not appropriate for long-term intensive care support, which is desperately needed in LMICs and the NEEs. “

Dr Joseph van Batenburg-Sherwood, Principal Investigator, Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London

The next step towards approval as a medical device will be the development of the advanced prototype stage to a mass-produced medical device, which must be carried out under specific regulatory conditions. To do this, they launched a start-up, known as Phaedrus World Medical Limited, alongside two experienced med-tech entrepreneurs. They are currently looking for investment to turn their designs into usable fans.

Liz Hughes, CEO of Phaedrus World Medical Limited, said: “RELAVENT offers simple yet high performance mechanical ventilation. Its versatility allows access to respiratory support in many different treatment areas and has the potential to save many lives. This was only possible thanks to the efforts of the incredible team of engineers at Imperial College and the clinical inputs of our medical advisor who has first-hand experience in our target markets. “

The beauty of simplicity

Co-author Dr Jakob Mathiszig-Lee, Imperial’s Department of Surgery and Cancer, said: ‘In the UK we have suffered from a shortage of mechanical ventilators to treat our COVID-19 patients the sickest, but such a shortage of reliable mechanical ventilation is the norm. in much of the world. In LMICs and NEEs, other respiratory diseases such as tuberculosis, pneumonia and influenza cause more deaths each year than COVID-19.

Dr van Batenburg-Sherwood added: “Our fans are inspired by the beauty of simplicity. Rather than using the complex control valves used in most ventilators, we have devised a way to use simple on-off valves to deliver the high-level performance required in critical care ventilators. In this way, we have made the technology much cheaper and cheaper to manufacture and maintain.

Co-author Professor James Moore, Translation Director for Imperial Oil’s Department of Bioengineering, said: “We want to bring our ventilator to as many hospitals as possible to tackle severe respiratory disease in the world. We have the right technology to help solve this unmet medical problem. need and I hope to attract investment to help it go further.