Helping Canadian industry produce ventilators

- Ottawa, Ontario

At the outset of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Government of Canada issued a call to action to Canadian businesses and manufacturers to step up production of much needed "made-in-Canada" medical supplies. Chief among these supplies are ventilators, essential life-saving equipment used to treat patients with critical symptoms of the virus by helping them breathe when they can no longer do so on their own.

A coordinated response

Canadian businesses quickly mobilized their efforts by coming together under different national and provincial consortia to accelerate the production of 40,000 ventilators requested by the federal government. The NRC has played an important role in supporting these consortia by helping members overcome the many technical barriers and hurdles involved in quickly retooling or pivoting operations to support ventilator production.

With close ties to industry and a vast network of expertise, NRC IRAP has provided an essential lifeline to Canada's ventilator producers. NRC IRAP developed a "Ventilator Subject Expert Team (SET)" to help businesses quickly solve challenges and ramp up production, including sourcing key ventilator components, finding the right technical expertise and navigating regulatory complexities. To support these efforts, the NRC IRAP Ventilator SET initiated a report providing a preliminary analysis on ventilator market capabilities in Canada, which it has used and shared with other Government of Canada departments to address existing gaps and identify opportunities. With these support mechanisms in place, Canadian businesses are beginning to make great strides in ventilator production, ensuring that the nation will have a strong supply of essential life-saving equipment to combat the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Making great strides

Since the start of the pandemic, the NRC has been actively involved in supporting numerous ventilator initiatives with Canadian businesses, manufacturers and supply chain providers. These interactions have led to a collective building and sharing of knowledge and expertise across the organization which has contributed to a number of successes. The following stories, are just a few examples.

Baylis Medical (Mississauga, Ontario)

Baylis Medical is leveraging its experience in advanced manufacturing of medical devices for the fields of cardiology and spinal health to produce the Baylis-V4C-560 ventilator in partnership with the Ventilators for Canadians consortium. NRC IRAP helped the company source a critical ASL 5000 breathing simulator to test and validate its device, as well as connected the company with a supplier and expert in blower fan assembly and balancing. NRC IRAP also pulled together a team of on-call industrial technology advisors and NRC researchers with expertise in motor balancing to help the company overcome any technical challenges. Baylis' ventilator recently received Health Canada approval.

"We are proud to have partnered with NRC IRAP in this important initiative in service of Canadian patients. Support from NRC IRAP has been invaluable, allowing us to quickly overcome technical hurdles and expedite the production of the much-needed ventilators. In particular, NRC IRAP advisor, Baraa El-Kadri and Manfred Vormbaum have been instrumental in our ability to successfully manufacture these ventilators."

Neil Godara, Vice President & General Manager, Baylis Medical Company Inc.

StarFish Medical (Victoria, BC)

StarFish Medical, Canada's largest medical-device design company, is part of the Canadian Emergency Ventilators project - one of 4 initiatives to produce ventilators for Canada. Led by StarFish Medical, in collaboration with partners and funding through the Next Generation Manufacturing Canada cluster (NGen), the project involves updating the design and intellectual property of the 30-year-old "Winnipeg Ventilator" to meet current Canadian supply chain and COVID-19 needs. Support from NRC IRAP has enabled the firm to access ASL 5000 breathing simulators to test and validate its device, as well as resolve other supply chain issues. StarFish is awaiting Health Canada clearance of its redesigned ventilator.

"NRC IRAP was vital in helping us connect with the necessary expertise and equipment to test and validate the re-designed Winnipeg Ventilator. They have also been a great point of referral for coordinating and connecting other companies with solutions to offer."

John Walmsley, Vice President Strategic relationships, StarFish Medical

CAE (Montréal, Quebec)

CAE Healthcare is one of the 3 core businesses of CAE, a global leader in the delivery of training for the civil aviation, defence and security, and health care markets. CAE Healthcare delivers educational tools that help health care professionals provide safe, high-quality patient care.

The NRC provided valuable support to the company as it refocussed its effort to meet the need to design and manufacture additional ventilators for Canadians. Experts from the NRC's Medical Devices and Automotive and Surface Transportation research centres, as well as Business Management Support and Design and Fabrication Services, joined forces to support the initiative. In particular, the NRC provided key guidance to CAE in responding to the Government of Canada's call to action, and delivered advice and scientific expertise in addressing oxidation and ISO standards on biocompatibility to ensure that the ventilator generates clean and safe air for patients to breathe. The NRC also helped the company select essential design materials, as well as suggested cleaning methods to ensure the safe and proper functioning of key device components. CAE announced on June 17, 2020, that it received Health Canada approval and began shipping ventilators to the Government of Canada in July 2020.

"The NRC was instrumental in supporting CAE during the call to action process and provided the right technical expertise to help us adapt our operations to build safe and reliable ventilators for Canadians."

Pascal Grenier, Vice President, Global Operations, Technologies & Innovation, CAE

What's next

The NRC continues to support efforts to develop made-in-Canada ventilators as businesses and consortia ramp up production and bring these essential medical devices to Canadian health care settings over the coming months.