Polish startup develops affordable ventilator and is starting to collect orders
Mudita - a Polish technology start-up, founded by Michał Kiciński, co-founder of CD Projekt, together with physicians from the Foundation for Research and Development of Science, has designed a simple and inexpensive ventilator for COVID-19 patients.
Breath is designed to deliver oxygen to a patient's lungs when their life is in danger and a doctor, nurse, or paramedic is not able to use a professional ventilator. Mudita is now looking for companies and private investors that would help to fund the devices for the hospitals that need them most.
Mudita, known so far for their work on the first minimalist phone created in Poland, decided to support the health service in the fight against the pandemic.
Mudita's experienced team of electronic and mechanical engineers, as well as developers, teamed up with a transplantologist, Dr. Michał Wszoła, Dr. Domink Drobiński, an anesthesiologist working with patients suffering from COVID-19, and other scientists from the Foundation of Research and Science Development in Warsaw.
Together they launched a project under the working name of “Breath” - a simple, accessible and inexpensive ventilator, designed to help hospitals that do not have enough high-end respirators available. Within a week, the engineers constructed the first prototype of the device. The ventilator has passed the tests performed on an artificial lung. From the beginning the engineers have been designing it according to the AAMI (The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation) and FDA (The Food and Drug Administration) recommendations regarding special versions of ventilators. Mudita has been closely cooperating with doctors and producers of medical equipment.
The company is planning to release the first tranche of the devices in May.
Companies and institutions that are interested in ordering them, are asked to fill in this form in order to receive the information about the pricing, availability, and deadlines.
Mudita is also looking for companies and private investors that would like to help fund the devices for the hospitals that need them most.
" As a technology company we now have the opportunity to support doctors locally in Poland and worldwide. It is a race against time, but we decided to act." - says Michał Kiciński, founder of Mudita.
Breath delivers oxygen to a patient’s lungs, when the doctor, nurse or paramedic doesn’t have access to a professional respirator. Currently, hospitals don’t have enough equipment to help all of the patients and buying new respirators proves challenging because of the high costs and limited accessibility.
Mudita decided to base the construction of their ventilator on the AMBU bag (otherwise known as a bag valve mask), a popular resuscitation and ventilation kit that is used in almost every hospital and ambulance, to provide patients with additional oxygen when necessary.
Mudita constructed a mechanism that presses on the AMBU bag and helps to deliver oxygen to the lungs. The medical practitioner can set the parameters, such as the air capacity and pressing frequency. Pressure sensors that monitor the whole mechanism and can report a potential fault are also included.
The idea was born at the end of March. Based on the project developed in cooperation with the doctors, the engineers from Mudita created the first prototype. After 10 days they had the second, fully functional version of the device, which was then tested in a hospital and using an artificial lung. The company has started an accelerated certification process.
According to the company’s predictions, the device will be allowed to be used in hospitals and ready for mass production in mid-May.
The head of engineering at Mudita, Adrian Krupowicz, has been informing people about the project in special videos, available on the company’s blog. Mudita is updating its progress on its website with a dedicated subpage: https://mudita.com/products/breath/ .