Teaming up with the United States government, health technology provider Royal Philips has agreed to double the production of hospital ventilators at its U.S. manufacturing sites by May and push for a four-fold increase by the third quarter.
These supplies would then be usable in both the U.S. and global markets facing down the COVID-19 pandemic, which has infected more than 1,500,000 people worldwide, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
“We are actively collaborating with the U.S. government to help save lives in the U.S. and across the globe,” Frans van Houten, CEO of Royal Philips, said. “There is an unprecedented global demand for medical equipment to help diagnose and treat patients with COVID-19. We welcome the support of the U.S. government in our efforts to aggressively increase the production of hospital ventilators. We believe in fair allocation of scarce medical equipment to those who need it the most, and we are ramping up to deliver 43,000 units to the most critical regions in the U.S. in the coming weeks and months through December 2020.”
The company’s agreement with the U.S. government will yield accelerated access to critical materials and components, along with expedited logistics and regulatory approvals. Philips itself expects to invest tens of millions of dollars into its ventilator manufacturing sites stateside.
These ventilators can be lifesaving during the treatment of patients with COVID-19. While federal agencies have said the U.S. government will seize shipments of medical equipment meant for other countries fighting the pandemic, Philips maintains an intent to divide orders into batches that will be delivered in phases to multiple countries in need. The company noted that it wants to allocate supplies to acute patient demands, based on data and available critical care capacity.
Meanwhile, this week the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the first contract for ventilator production rated under the Defense Production Act (DPA), to General Motors. GM’s contract, at a total contract price of $489.4 million, is for 30,000 ventilators to be delivered to the Strategic National Stockpile by the end of August 2020, with a production schedule allowing for the delivery of 6,132 ventilators by June 1, 2020.
“By rating contracts under the DPA, HHS is helping manufacturers like GM get the supplies they need to produce ventilators as quickly as possible, while also ensuring that these ventilators are routed through the Strategic National Stockpile to where they’re needed most,” HHS Secretary Alex Azar said on April 8.