A made-in-Manitoba ventilator, that’ll be used to treat COVID-19 patients, has received Health Canada approval.
This means the Winnipeg Ventilator 2.0, created by Cerebra Health, can now be manufactured and shipped immediately to the Public Health Authority of Canada. Manufacturing of the devices is expected to increase from a handful to thousands.
Dr. Madgy Younes, Cerebra’s scientific founder, created the original Winnipeg Ventilator, which was licensed and used as the basis for commercial ventilators throughout the 1990s and 2000s. The units were also used during the 2003 SARS epidemic.
Clinical evaluation of the ventilator will take place in Manitoba in the intensive care unit of the Health Sciences Centre.
StarFish Medical, Canada’s largest medical device design, development, and manufacturing company is also involved with the project.
In a statement, StarFish CEO Scott Phillips said “Our goal with the Winnipeg Ventilator 2.0 is to deliver a fully-featured ICU ventilator that could save patients’ lives, be manufactured in Canada in the shortest time possible, and not disrupt the supply chain for existing ventilators”.
