Medtronic shares ventilation design specs to help increase its production globally

The global leader in medical technology, Medtronic has announced to share its ventilation design to accelerate effort to increase global ventilation production.

It will publicly share the design specification for the Puritan Bennett™ 560 (PB 560) to enable participants across industries to help for rapid ventilator manufacturing to help doctors and patients dealing with COVID-19.

This decision is consistent with the recent FDA Guidance and in accordance with the public health and medical response of governmental agencies globally.

Introduced in 2010, the PB 560 has been sold in 35 countries around the world as its ability to be used in a range of care settings, along with technology and design make it a solid ventilation solution for manufacturers and other institutions.

PB 560 product and service manuals, design requirement documents, manufacturing documents, and schematics are now available at Medtronic.com/openventilator, software code and other information will follow shortly.

"We know this global crisis needs a global response. Over the past few weeks, we have ramped up production of our Puritan Bennett™ 980 ventilators. But we also know we can do more, and we are," said Bob White, executive vice president and president of the Minimally Invasive Therapies Group at Medtronic.

He added, "By openly sharing the PB 560 design information, we hope to increase global production of ventilator solutions for the fight against COVID-19."

Ventilators play a critical role in the management of patients with severe respiratory illness, such as COVID-19, who require assistance because they cannot breathe effectively.

Placed on a ventilator, the patient's lungs are permitted to rest and recover while the ventilator performs the functions of supplying oxygen and simulating the actions of breathing. Without ventilation support, some patients with severe respiratory disease might not survive.