Penlon, VentilatorChallengeUK and the ESO 2 Emergency Ventilator

On January 29th 2020 two Chinese nationals staying at a hotel in York, UK, fell ill. They would become the first recorded UK cases of the COVID-19 pandemic, an aggressive strain of the coronavirus that had not been previously identified in humans. As the virus took hold, so too did the demand for equipment to treat the sick. By mid-March, the Government had established that up to 30,000 ventilators may be required for the UK’s COVID-19 patients. It would soon become apparent that this was a serious issue because the UK does not make a suitable critical care ventilator, while established international providers were struggling to cope with their own domestic and international demand.

On March 17th the UK Government issued a ‘call to arms.’ An appropriate technology specification was drafted and the Rapid Manufacture Ventilator System ‘RMVS’ was conceived. Using its ventilation expertise, Penlon quickly responded by proposing the ESO 2 Emergency Ventilator, based on the existing AV-S anaesthesia ventilator platform.

The purpose of the ESO 2 is to save lives by ventilating the sickest patients until they are strong enough to be transferred to one of the limited number of ICU ventilators available for recovery. The first ESO 2 prototype was demonstrated less than a week later and the ‘Ventilator Challenge UK’ consortium was formed to manufacture the ESO 2 in large numbers.

Penlon’s Head of Products and Marketing, Craig Thompson, said,

Longer-term, with an exciting future, Penlon believes that a UK manufactured, ICU ventilator would help in any future pandemic and the company are investigating how the development of this product can be funded. Penlon is looking to the future, and to establishing itself as a world-class manufacturer of Anaesthesia and Respiratory devices for the global market.

A copy of this article was published on the ABHI website on 21st May 2020.