Bengaluru tech firm to produce NASA-designed, US FDA-approved ventilators

The firm said it is among a handful of Indian companies licenced by NASA for meeting the worldwide acute shortage of ventilators needed in treating Covid-19 patients

Bangaluru-based tech company in medical equipment design, CuraSigna, said on Thursday it is going into the production of NASA -designed and FDA-approved multi-functional ventilators named "VITAL (Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally)."

The firm said in a statement that it is among a handful of Indian companies licenced by NASA for meeting the worldwide acute shortage of ventilators needed in treating Covid-19 patients.

CuraSigna, promoted by Sushil Swabhiman Trust (SST), is in an advanced stage of manufacturing the ventilators first for meeting Indias needs in the Covid-19 situation and then for exports, it said in a statement.

CuraSigna has its manufacturing resources at Non-Ferrous Material Technology Development Centre (NFTDC), Hyderabad, an autonomous "non-grant-in-aid institution" under the Ministry of Mines, Government of India, it said.

NFTDC has been engaged in the design and development of vital medical equipment for the last two decades.

CuraSigna is proposing to blend the hardware capabilities of NFTDC with its state-of-the-art software expertise and international quality control processes in the manufacture of not only advanced ventilators but also other critical care equipment, the statement added.

It is estimated that the domestic ventilator supply-demand gap is at least about 100,000 high-pressure Ventilators.

Besides, the SAARC and South East Asian region requirements of such ventilators are about another 300,000, according to the statement.

CuraSigna has already partnered with Max Global, Malaysia, for export of Ventilators in the South East Asian region.