At Trump’s request, Ford and GM help ventilator makers boost output
It’s not easy to build a ventilator assembly line from scratch. …
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One of the most crucial things the United States can do to prepare for the surging coronavirus outbreak is to beef up our stockpile of ventilators. These mechanical breathing machines are crucial for keeping patients with severe cases of COVID-19 alive. The United States currently has around 170,000 of the devices; experts say that may not be enough if the number of coronavirus cases continues to grow exponentially.
On Sunday, President Donald Trump tweeted that “Ford, General Motors and Tesla are being given the go ahead to make ventilators and other metal products, FAST!” (Presumably he meant “medical products.”)
This is an apparent reference to new guidance from the Food and Drug Administration, published Sunday, that dramatically loosens the agency’s normally strict oversight of ventilator technology. The new policy not only gives medical professionals broader latitude to modify existing FDA-approved ventilators, it also creates a streamlined process for complete newcomers to the ventilator market to get FDA approval.
So car companies have been swinging into action. GM announced a partnership with ventilator manufacturer Ventec last Friday. On Tuesday morning, Ford announced its own ventilator partnership with GE Healthcare.
But ventilators are complex machines that can cost as much as $50,000 apiece. Reliability is crucial, since even a brief malfunction or loss of power could cost a patient his or her life. So it wouldn’t be practical for any company to design and build ventilators from scratch in a few months. Instead, car companies are looking for ways to help existing vendors expand their
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