Our Projects

On-shore Manufacture of Notus Vivere Invasive Ventilators for COVID-19 Patients

Project description and overview:

Invasive ventilation is an essential supportive treatment for patients in the critical‐care stage of COVID‐19. There is a world‐wide shortage of invasive ventilators. Globally, there are many existing manufacturers, but they are swamped with orders and are manufacturing at the limits of their production capacity or supply chains.

While it is not easy to determine how many additional ventilators will be required to cope with the coming surge in demand in Australia, between 2,000 and 4,000 additional invasive ventilators are reasonable estimates given currently promulgated projections and recurring COVID‐19 exposure. ResMed is the only Australian manufacturer of invasive ventilators, and the current approach by ResMed for manufacturing additional invasive ventilators is fully supported.

This project offers a well‐considered and feasible, non‐competitive ventilator supply strategy which resonated at a State and Federal level.  Grey Innovation negotiated a licence agreement with Smiths Medical.

The licence agreement arrangement is to manufacture a minimum 2,000 Notus Vivere Emergency Invasive Ventilators in Australia derived from the Smiths Pneupac® ParaPAC® Plus Ventilators design with the initial 2,000 to be sold to the Australian Federal Government. Grey Innovation is leading this effort together with the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre to combine forces with other leading domestic manufacturers to make the Notus Vivere Emergency Invasive Ventilators in Australia. Production of key components and sub‐assemblies, as well as final assembly and testing, will be undertaken by Grey Innovation and members of the AMGC manufacturing network.

In this project AMGC will provide funding to support Grey Innovation to manufacture sufficient Notus Vivere Emergency Invasive Ventilators, patient circuits and other consumables suitable for TGA approvals.

This project will cover the design and engineering needed to set up local production scale‐up, with automation a consideration to efficiently manufacture machines in the shortest possible time span, due to the Covid‐19 emergency.

EXPECTED IMPACT

  • Increased collaboration with other manufacturers
  • Better qualified employees
  • More automation
  • Greater share of services in total revenue

EXPECTED GROWTH

This project includes the production of 2,000 Notus™ Vivere Emergency Invasive Ventilators with an estimated sales value of $32 million and related consumables with an estimated sales value of $5 million

EXPECTED JOBS

During this project Grey Innovation estimate that the consortium will generate or retain employment for 300 people.

Contributions:

Government Funds: $500,000 | Industry: $500,000 | In-Kind: $0

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