Royal Philips to increase production of ventilators

Royal Philips, a global leader in health technology, recently agreed to increase the production of hospital ventilators at all its U.S. manufacturing sites. The company plans to double the production by May and quadruple production by the third quarter.

The ventilators will be distributed to both domestic and foreign markets. The company said it will invest tens of millions of dollars in its ventilator manufacturing sites.

“We are actively collaborating with the U.S. government to help save lives in the U.S. and across the globe,” Frans van Houten, Royal Philips CEO, said. “There is an unprecedented global demand for medical equipment to help diagnose and treat patients with COVID-19. We welcome the support of the U.S. government in our efforts to aggressively increase the production of hospital ventilators. We believe in fair allocation of scarce medical equipment to those who need it the most, and we are ramping up to deliver 43,000 units to the most critical regions in the U.S. in the coming weeks and months through December 2020.”

Philips’ Respironics division, the arm that produces breathing equipment, has facilities in the Pittsburgh area.

Philips and the U.S. government have agreed to work together to rapidly increase the production of ventilators by expediting logistics and regulatory approvals, and increasing access to critical materials and components.