Three Cambridge technology innovators have had government support for ventilator designs in which they were instrumental terminated following a further review.

Cambridge Consultants, Sagentia and TTP were co-designers of their particular models but have now met the same fate as Team Consulting for whom financial support was ended in April.

The Cabinet Office confirmed that, following re-assessment from a panel of expert clinicians, the department was ending support for five deisngs which included Veloci-Vent, made by Cambridge Consultants Ltd and MetLase;
CoVent made by TTP and Dyson and the Sagentia Ventilator, made by Sagentia.

Director, Medical Devices Testing and Evaluation Centre, Dr Tom Clutton-Brock said: “All five designs have made exceptional progress since the start of the Ventilator Challenge, with a number of devices having been assessed as having viable designs by expert clinicians. 

“However they would require further development before they would be ready for clinical testing and they are not currently required to meet immediate demand. Companies may continue to develop their designs, including for CE-marking.”

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove revealed that a batch of new ventilators under the Ventilator Challenge has arrived in the UK to continue supporting NHS patients with coronavirus: 150 devices, made up of the Vivo65 and the Nippy4+ ventilators from Breas Medical have arrived from Sweden.

The Government has ordered 2000 of the devices, with hundreds expected to arrive over the coming weeks.

Gove said: “The arrival of the Breas Medical devices further underlines the Ventilator Challenge’s success in stepping up the number of ventilators in the UK.

“These devices are well suited to helping patients in intensive care and will complement the two other Ventilator Challenge devices currently on the NHS frontline.

“We are also hugely grateful to those companies that will not be progressing further in the Ventilator Challenge. They can be proud of the part they played in the national effort to protect the NHS and save lives.”

The UK now has over 11,000 mechanical invasive ventilators available in total.

• PHOTOGRAPH: Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove – Crown Copyright.