Project Lead(s): Matthew Callaghan
Issue
Respiratory illness is a leading cause of hospitalization and death in developing nations.
Each year, thousands of patients die because of lack of early access to mechanical ventilation.
Solution
OneBreath is attempting to deal with one of the most difficult problems in critical care: delivering high precision, high reliability and low cost in a mechanical ventilator.
They have built and tested a prototype mechanical ventilator, and implemented documentation and manufacturing systems in advance of regulatory approval and sales.
User needs and field research was performed in multiple sites across southern India, and this information was used to inform product requirements as the initial prototype device was developed.
Prototypes of pneumatic, electrical and interface designs were constructed and tested.
Once validated, these designs were advanced into final-stage development under a quality management system.
A manufacturing partner was chosen and design for manufacturability began.
In 2014, OneBreath was the recipient of a NSF SBIR Phase II award ($749,000), the Lockheed-Martin Global Innovation Award and was a TiE Top 50 start-up.
Project founders have given presentations at international conferences, and have appeared in televised interviews and numerous panel discussions.
Phase II Transition To Scale funding from Grand Challenges Canada was granted to advance sales beyond local markets to other regions outside of India and to scale production to capture market share in other emerging markets, such as Africa, South and Central America, the Eastern European Union and China.