PHIA Koninklijke Philips NV

By Peter Loftus 

Manufacturers are racing to boost production of the medical ventilators required to save the lives of many critically ill coronavirus patients, but there still may not be enough of the crucial machines if cases surge, industry officials say.

Medtronic PLC, Philips NV, Draegerwerk AG and Getinge AB, among the biggest suppliers of medical ventilators and related respiratory equipment, said they are working to meet increased global demand, including in the U.S.

Even companies that don't make medical devices may chip in. General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. are exploring the possibility of making ventilators, spokespeople for the companies said Thursday. The auto makers have temporarily suspended vehicle production in North America until at least March 30.

The added capacity may eventually help ease the crunch, but it isn't coming fast enough to keep up with mounting demand and may not be sufficient if cases surge, industry officials and health experts say.

"The actual available inventory on the shelf is gone," said Chris Brooks, chief strategy officer at Ventec Life Systems, of Bothell, Wash. "There's definitely more demand than there is supply today. We're doing everything we can to ramp up supply."

As many as 810,000 U.S. coronavirus patients could need ventilators by the end of May, if cases were to double every six days, according to Neil Carpenter, vice president of strategic planning at health-care consultancy Array Advisors.

Yet the Society of Critical Care Medicine estimated, in a report released this week, that more than 200,000 mechanical ventilators may be available in the U.S.

If more machines become available, there may not be enough trained professionals to operate them, said Lewis Kaplan, the society's president and professor of surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

The critical-care society estimates that the number of trained physicians, respiratory therapists and nurses would limit the maximum number of ventilated patients to about 135,000.

Hamilton Medical AG, a Swiss company with operations in Nevada, has received hundreds of orders in recent weeks, including a steep increase in the U.S. The orders, a spokeswoman said, are "more than we can currently provide."

To meet higher demand in Asia and Europe as well as the U.S., Hamilton is hiring new staff and expanding to weekend work, among other steps. The company expects to increase production in Switzerland to 400 ventilators a week, up from about 200 currently.

Medtronic said Wednesday it has boosted ventilator production by more than 40% and is on track to more than double capacity to meet "significantly increased" demand. The company said it would more than double the 250-person workforce at its Galway, Ireland, plant that makes its Puritan line of ventilators.

Yet hospitals face weeks of waiting for additional machines, because the average turnaround time for new orders is about eight weeks, said Soumi Saha, senior director of advocacy at Premier Inc., which negotiates supply contracts for U.S. hospitals.

Premier is surveying U.S. hospitals to gauge how many more patients hospitals can manage before they will need more ventilators, Ms. Saha said.

Ventilators are machines -- many about the size of a desktop printer -- that aid breathing. Critically-ill coronavirus patients, like those with pneumonia in intensive-care units who are having trouble breathing, need the assistance to survive. The devices cost anywhere from $5,000 to more than $30,000 apiece.

The ventilators are mainly in hospitals, though a federal government stockpile also has the machines.

The stockpile, which is intended to fill supply gaps in emergencies, has about 12,700 ventilators, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN Sunday. The Department of Health and Human Services has ordered more ventilators, a spokeswoman said.

Hospital officials hope that recent government bans on large gatherings and other measures will mitigate the spread of the virus in the U.S. and avert overwhelming the supply of ventilators. In Italy, some hospitals either have no ventilators or not enough for all patients who need them.

Other respiratory devices could be deployed in a pinch instead of mechanical ventilators, said Eric Toner, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. One such device is a BiPap, a machine connected to a mask that goes over a patient's face and pushes air into the lungs. They are similar to CPAP machines that people use at home for sleep apnea.

Top Democratic lawmakers pressed President Trump on Thursday to use the Defense Production Act to force U.S. industry to make ventilators and other medical supplies. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) have said President Trump should use his powers under the act to ensure the availability of ventilators, as well as testing kits, masks and beds.

"We must put more testing, more protective equipment and more ventilators into the hands of our front-line workers immediately," said Mrs. Pelosi.

President Trump said on Wednesday he was invoking the act in case he needed to use it in the future if matters worsen.

In a letter to Vice President Mike Pence, hospital, nursing, pharmaceutical and insurer groups said the matter is urgent. They urged the federal government to "expeditiously move to spur massive, increased production, distribution, and access to gowns, masks, gloves, testing kits, testing swabs, and respiratory machines."

--Siobhan Hughes contributed to this article.

Write to Peter Loftus at peter.loftus@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 19, 2020 15:56 ET (19:56 GMT)

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