An international ventilator design team, led in part by Queen’s Nobel Laureate Art McDonald, reached a new milestone today, with the Government of Canada announcing an agreement with global manufacturing firm Vexos to produce 10,000 Mechanical Ventilator Milano (MVM) units that will help assist the country’s efforts to confront COVID-19.

"Throughout this period of crisis, we continue to see Canadian companies across the country making tremendous contributions to fight COVID-19,” says Navdeep Bains, Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry. “The story of Dr. Art McDonald, his team, and Vexos is one of true innovation. These new, easy to build ventilators are a great example of Canadian innovation at work and will be a key resource for our hospitals to save lives."

Minister Bains shared news of the order in a tweet yesterday.

The MVM device is an innovative, simple but powerful ventilator designed to address the specific needs of patients severely affected by COVID-19. Through collaboration between Italian, American, and Canadian physicists, engineers, and companies, the device was conceived, developed, and secured FDA authorization in the U.S. inside of six weeks. Health Canada review for the Canadian units will occur soon and delivery of the units is expected to commence in July 2020.

"I have enjoyed working with such a skilled and dedicated team of scientists and engineers, including our Canadian manufacturing partners, in this humanitarian effort,” says Dr. McDonald, who has been leading a Canadian team, including TRIUMF Laboratory, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, SNOLAB, and the McDonald Institute. “Everyone is strongly motivated to make a difference in this difficult situation for Canada and the rest of the world."

The project gained public attention in early April after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau highlighted the project as one of the key examples of how Canadian researchers were working together to provide effective and creative solutions to supply shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic. The teams also caught the attention of major philanthropists from across Canada who stepped up to support the effort’s progress.

Learn more about the project on the Research at Queen’s website.