University College London (UCL), in collaboration with Mercedes-AMG HPP and University College London Hospital (UCLH), have developed a new breathing aid: a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) device. The CPAP supports patients with breathing difficulties. It works by pushing an air-oxygen mix into the mouth and nose at a continuous pressure, keeping airways open and increasing the amount of oxygen entering the blood stream. This breathing aid can be used to help Covid-19 patients with serious respiratory problems to breathe more easily and has been shown to help prevent the need for invasive ventilation.

This CPAP has been approved for manufacture by UCL by UK regulators, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) under special conditions. These conditions state that this is a non-CE marked CPAP, given approval for use in the NHS for the interest of public health protection under the Covid-19 pandemic emergency.

Any manufacture and use of this CPAP by third parties must require the third party to have local regulatory approval in place, as required in the third party’s own country and must fully comply with any stipulated conditions, laws and regulations that ensure full patient safety.

The technical specifications for this CPAP are being shared for humanitarian purposes, to help support the international community addressing pressing demands to care for Covid-19 patients. 

Please find here the article about the CPAP: Designs for life-saving breathing aid are made freely available

More information on the licence, design and application: UCL-Ventura breathing aid (CPAP) – Design and manufacturing package