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Armenian firm granted license to make NASA Covid-19 ventilators

The Armenian YEA Engineering company is one of the firms that have got the licences from NASA to manufacture the NASA-JPL VITAL ventilators developed by the space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for treatment of COVID-19 patients.

This places the Armenia firm among 27 esteemed Global Licensee holders selected from more than 330 applicants from 42 countries.

Besides nine companies from the United States, three from Brazil, four from India, and one each from Armenia, Australia, Canada, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Portugal, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates have also been approved by NASA to manufacture the ventilators.

The prototype of the ventilator, which was created by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineers in just 37 days, received an Emergency Use Authorization from the Food and Drug Administration on April 30.

Called VITAL (Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally), the high-pressure ventilator was designed to use one-seventh the parts of a traditional ventilator, relying on parts already available in supply chains. It offers a simpler, more affordable option for treating critical patients while freeing up traditional ventilators for those with the most severe COVID-19 symptoms. Its flexible design means it also can be modified for use in field hospitals.

The Office of Technology Transfer and Corporate Partnerships at Caltech, which owns the patents and software for VITAL, is offering a free license for the device.

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