• Important
  • 2020/04/06

Preparing for launch of emergency ventilator for COVID-19 response.

In response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Metran is preparing to start
mass-production of a simple-but-effective, robust and inexpensive ventilator for emergency treatment. Metran has specialized in the development and manufacture of respiratory equipment since its founding in 1984. Metran’s founder developed and commercialized the world’s first HFO ventilator for neonates, and since then Metran has led the way as Japan’s leading ventilator manufacturer. As ventilator technology has progressed, one of our adult ventilator models was repurposed for use as a veterinary ventilator, the Compos-X. This ventilator has been successfully used in hundreds of veterinary offices around Japan and the USA, for more than 10 years.

With the rapid spread of COVID-19 and the desperate need for more ventilators around the world, we reviewed our portfolio and realised that the Compos-X, with some small adjustments, can be an extremely effective solution for situations we are seeing daily on our TV screens where patients are receiving treatment in temporary or field hospitals, from carers who don’t have ICU training, and where ventilators are in desperately short supply. Metran has received orders to supply 4,000 units to Vietnam and we are currently cooperating with one of Japan’s top university hospitals to develop a protocol for its use in COVID-19 treatment. The ventilator relies on pressure control with an open system to avoid excessive pressure which could result in injury to the patient’s lungs. It has just 3 modes of operation and is simple to use for under-equipped but over-pressured medical staff.

We are making swift progress with our supply chain to drastically increase the supply of components. This will allow us to increase our own production, and also to support production of this ventilator by competent manufacturers in other parts of the world under emergency license. We have set up a dedicated email for inquiries from interested manufacturers at covid19response@metran.co.jp. We sincerely hope that everyone out there suffering under the burden of this pandemic can get through it safely and return to a normal life as soon as possible. We will continue to do the best we can to help that happen.