Ventilators Manufactured in Long Beach by Virgin Orbit, Receive FDA Approval

LONG BEACH — On April 23, Long Beach Mayor Garcia has announced that ventilators being manufactured in Long Beach by Virgin Orbit, have received FDA approval and are now being produced. These innovative units will begin shipping to hospitals here locally and across the country. 

Virgin Orbit’s Press Release:

Virgin Orbit, Sir Richard Branson’s responsive satellite launch company, announced today that regulators at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have granted an Emergency Use Authorization for the immediate delivery and use of a new “bridge” ventilator designed and built by the aerospace firm. With that authorization now in place, Virgin Orbit expects to begin delivering ventilators to hospitals within the next few days.

Guided by the medical expertise and clinical experience of the Bridge Ventilator Consortium — a group of doctors, medical researchers, and medical device engineers collaborating to advise multiple different low-cost ventilator efforts — Virgin Orbit has leveraged its extensive engineering design, manufacturing, and operational capabilities to quickly design a novel ventilator, test prototype units, and ramp up production of these devices.

The Virgin Orbit Ventilator is in essence a very simple, very reliable, mechanical device designed to automate common manual resuscitators (also known as bag valve masks, and often referred to colloquially by the proprietary name “Ambu-bag”). The system can be used to treat moderate hypoxic and/or hypercarbic respiratory failure – in most settings, this would include the majority of COVID-19 patients – freeing up existing, more sophisticated ventilators to be used on patients with the most severe symptoms.

Virgin Orbit has already begun manufacturing ventilators, and is currently producing at a rate of over 100 per week. With the emergency authorization now in hand, Virgin Orbit expects to deliver 100 units to California’s Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) in the coming days. The company is already in discussions with other manufacturing partners in the U.S. and internationally to increase capacity to meet the enormous demand around the world.

“Our team is so grateful to have the opportunity to channel our energies in a way that can hopefully make a difference in this crisis,” said Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart. “Additionally, we are experiencing a great sharing of ideas and capabilities internationally. As dark a time as this is, it’s also a moment of extreme motivation and collaboration unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.”