Philips Enters into Agreement with US Government to Double Ventilator Production by May

Royal Philips (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) has entered into an agreement with the US government to increase the production of hospital ventilators at its manufacturing sites in the US. The company plans to double its production by May 2020 and achieve a four-fold increase by the third quarter of 2020 for supply to the US as well as global markets. Philips plans to invest several tens of millions in its ventilator manufacturing sites in the US.

Philips is a leading health technology company that leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. In line with the recent call to action by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and World Health Organization (WHO), Philips and the US government have agreed to work together to accelerate access to critical materials and components, expedite logistics and regulatory approvals, in order to rapidly increase the production of ventilators which are critical for the treatment of patients with the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Philips believes that critical medical equipment, such as hospital ventilators, should be made available across the world using a fair and ethical approach to allocate supply to acute patient demands based on data such as the COVID-19 statistics per country/region (e.g. provided by the WHO and Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center) and the available critical care capacity. Philips may divide orders into batches to be delivered in phases, so that the company can simultaneously serve multiple countries/regions in need.

“We are actively collaborating with the US government to help save lives in the US and across the globe,” said Frans van Houten, CEO of Royal Philips. “There is an unprecedented global demand for medical equipment to help diagnose and treat patients with COVID-19. We welcome the support of the US 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 US in the coming weeks and months through December 2020.”

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