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PIMSA
14/Apr/2020
Uncategorized0

Combating the coronavirus pandemic: Bosch develops rapid test for COVID-19

Developed in just six weeks, the rapid test can detect a SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection in patients in under two and a half hours. The test for COVID-19 can help medical facilities make fast diagnoses and play a part in containing the coronavirus pandemic.

The coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is posing major challenges for healthcare systems and medical institutions worldwide. An ability to rapidly diagnose the virus is of invaluable help in curbing its exponential spread in many countries. Bosch’s new, fully automated rapid test for COVID-19 can help medical facilities such as doctors’ offices, hospitals, laboratories, and health centers make fast diagnoses.

The rapid molecular diagnostic test runs on the Vivalytic analysis device from Bosch Healthcare Solutions. “We want the Bosch rapid COVID-19 test to play a part in containing the coronavirus pandemic as quickly as possible. It will speed up the identification and isolation of infected patients,” says Dr. Volkmar Denner, chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH.

Developed in just six weeks, the rapid test can detect a SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection in patients in under two and a half hours — measured from the time the sample is taken to the time the result arrives. Another advantage of the rapid test is that it can be performed directly at the point of care. This eliminates the need to transport samples, which takes up valuable time. It also means patients quickly gain certainty about their state of health, while allowing infected individuals to be identified and isolated immediately. With the tests currently in use, patients must usually wait one to two days for a result. “Time is of the essence in the fight against coronavirus. Reliable, rapid diagnosis directly on site with no back and forth — that is the great advantage of our solution, which we see as another example of technology that is ‘Invented for life,’” Denner says.

Bosch’s rapid test is one of the world’s first fully automated molecular diagnostic tests that can be used directly by all medical institutions. What’s more, it allows a single sample to be tested not just for COVID-19 but also for nine other respiratory diseases, including influenza A and B, simultaneously. “The special feature of the Bosch test is that it offers differential diagnosis, which saves doctors the additional time needed for further tests. It also provides them with a reliable diagnosis quickly so they can then begin suitable treatment faster,” says Marc Meier, president of Bosch Healthcare Solutions GmbH. The newly developed test will be available in Germany starting in April, with other markets in Europe and elsewhere to follow.

Bosch’s rapid COVID-19 test is the result of collaboration between the company’s Bosch Healthcare Solutions subsidiary and the Northern Irish medical technology company Randox Laboratories Ltd. “Together with our partner Randox, we have succeeded in developing this innovative rapid test within a very short time frame, and we are now in a position to offer it to the market. The Bosch Vivalytic analysis device evaluates the test safely and reliably directly in the hospital, in the lab, or in the doctor’s office, guaranteeing the best possible protection for patients and medical staff,” Meier says. The company is currently examining how it can help doctors and nursing staff in medical facilities such as the Robert Bosch Hospital get tested promptly so they can be fit to work for as long as possible — with no risk of infecting others.

Up to 1,000 tests per day on just 100 devices.

Easy application at the point of care

In various laboratory tests with SARS-CoV-2, the Bosch test delivered results with an accuracy of over 95 percent. The rapid test meets the quality standards of the World Health Organization (WHO). A sample is taken from the patient’s nose or throat using a swab. Then the cartridge, which already contains all the reagents required for the test, is inserted into the Vivalytic device for analysis. During the analysis, medical staff can devote themselves to other tasks, for example treating patients. The Vivalytic analyzer is designed to be so user-friendly that even medical personnel who have not been specially trained on it can reliably perform the test.

A Bosch Vivalytic analyzer can perform up to ten tests in the space of 24 hours. This means it takes just 100 devices to evaluate up to 1,000 tests per day. Given the dynamic spread of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, laboratories are already working beyond capacity. The Bosch Vivalytic will thus help to increase available testing capacities.

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Source: https://www.bosch.com/stories/vivalytic-rapid-test-for-covid-19/?fbclid=IwAR3ZME5KJ_iKtcVL78Qo3zvoBPYVnaVZPPoCCdYxuNbvEr6UxMQA7ancX7U

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PIMSA
14/Apr/2020
Uncategorized0

Vyaire Medical donated almost 6 thousand medical products to the Health Ministry of Mexicali

Mexicali, B.C.- As part of its commitment to the community, Vyaire Medical, a Mexicali plant located in PIMSA III, made a donation of 5,940 products to the General Hospital of Mexicali, where they currently receive care from patients with Covid-19. The donation was led by Eduardo Mejía, Warehouse Manager, and Orlando Cortez, General Supervisor of Vyaire’s Warehouse.

Among the main products delivered were:

  • 1000 oxygen masks
  • 180 circuits for fans
  • 200 ventilation circuits
  • 500 misting kits with expandable tubing
  • 60 resuscitators
  • 1000 oxygen pipes
  • 500 cannulas
  • 2,500 gloves

Vyaire Medical has a global workforce that operates worldwide to manufacture unique products for the diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of respiratory conditions at all stages of life.

In Mexicali, Vyaire operates under the name of “Productos Urólogos”, a company that since its opening has manufactured products for different companies in the medical field, and recently turned 37 in the state capital.

Vyaire Mexicali, is committed to society throughout the state, and it is this commitment that is its main engine for the realization of this donation. In addition, the company thanked its collaborators for being participants in this important work that will surely benefit many.

Fuente: https://www.industrialnewsbc.com/2020/04/13/dono-vyaire-medical-casi-6-mil-productos-medicos-al-hospital-general/

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PIMSA
14/Apr/2020
Uncategorized0

Mexican factories boost production of medical supplies for U.S. hospitals while country struggles with its own coronavirus outbreak

MEXICO CITY — As demand soars for medical devices and personal protective equipment in the fight against the coronavirus, the United States has turned to the phalanx of factories south of the border that are now the outfitters of many U.S. hospitals.

Less than a year after President Trump threatened to impose tariffs here, Mexico’s $17 billion medical device industry is ramping up production of everything from ventilator components to thermometers and hospital beds — and scouring the country for workers willing to work through the pandemic.

The products, manufactured largely in factories run by U.S. corporations, will land in almost every hospital in the United States. Very few will remain in Mexico. It’s a byproduct of globalization distilled clearly during a pandemic: A nation that produces lifesaving medical equipment isn’t necessarily the one that gets to keep it.

“There’s this incredible irony that many of the medical devices that will save lives in the United States were made in Mexico, but most Mexicans won’t have access to them,” said Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington think tank.

On Thursday, the mayor of Tijuana implored the city’s medical device manufacturers to “increase the portion of your production for local consumption.”

“We recognize the importance of your work for the economic development of the country,” Mayor Arturo González Cruz wrote. “But the health and well-being of Mexicans is even more important.”

Tijuana, once considered a seedy border town, has emerged in the last two decades as one of the world’s most important hubs for the production of medical equipment. Its growth in advanced manufacturing has helped make Mexico the biggest exporter of medical devices to the United States.

The city’s manufacturers said it would be difficult to heed Gon­zález Cruz’s call.

“The great majority of what we produce is made for export,” said Carlos Higuera, the president of Tijuana’s economic development corporation. “With federal government regulation in Mexico, and the way these companies are structured, it’s not easy to turn around and start producing for local consumption.”

As U.S. demand for face masks, ventilators and other materials increased over the last month, recruiters in northwestern Mexico began holding job fairs in small towns. But police considered those fairs a public health risk and shut them down.

The balance between meeting U.S. need and protecting employees has been a challenge in some parts of the country, where unions and local politicians have protested the call for factory work in the midst of the outbreak. “If we want to avoid a massive spread of coronavirus, it is necessary that the worker stay at home with his family,” said the mayor of Matamoros, Mario López Hernández.

But the calls keep coming. Haemotronic, an Italian company with a factory in Reynosa, Mexico, received a request this week for 1.5 million IV tubing extensions specifically crafted for the treatment of the coronavirus, allowing nurses to keep more distance from infectious patients.

The company says it has implemented measures, including providing private transportation, to protect its workers. “I don’t think finding people will be a problem unless the virus surges in Mexico,” said Ettore Ravizza, manager of the Reynosa plant. “The covid situation just highlighted how strategic or essential we are for the well-being of our fellow humans.”

As the world races to increase production of ventilators, many parts of those, too, will come from Mexico. Supply chains for ventilators straddle the border, with ­components pieced together in both countries.

Integer of Plano, Tex., operates factories in Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez, where it produces batteries for ventilators that are completed in the United States. Hillrom, based in Batesville, Ind., makes some ventilator components in its Tijuana factory and plans to begin producing the Life2000 noninvasive ventilator there in the coming months.

“It’s very likely the first things that a patient needs or comes into contact with, will have been produced in Mexico,” said Howard Karesh, a Hillrom spokesperson.

Among the company’s 1,300 employees in the country, Karesh said, coronavirus cases were “extremely limited.”

Becton Dickinson, based in Franklin Lakes, N.J., employs 15,000 people in Mexico who produce “multiple billions of products and components” every year, company spokesman Troy Kirkpatrick said. They include catheters and IV sets now being used to treat coronavirus patients in the United States.

“We have been in contact with the governor’s offices in the states in which we have operations to explain the critical nature of our manufacturing to maintain a functioning global health-care system and the precautions we are taking to maximize employee safety,” Kirkpatrick said.

Mexico has struggled to acquire face masks, ventilators and hospital beds. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador acknowledged last week that there were only 5,000 ventilators in the country. He ordered the purchase of 5,000 more from China.

Trump threatened last June to impose tariffs on goods, including medical supplies imported from Mexico, to pressure López Obrador to crack down on Central American migrants crossing the country to reach the U.S. border.

Administration officials downplayed the economic impact of those tariffs on U.S. consumers, but the medical device industry was vocal in its opposition.

López Obrador agreed to step up immigration enforcement, and the tariffs were not implemented. But Trump suggested the tariffs would be a useful tool if he was not satisfied with the Mexican government’s actions.

“We can always go back to our previous, very profitable position on tariffs,” he tweeted.

Gabriela Martínez contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/mexican-medical-manufacturers-boost-production-for-us-hospitals-while-country-struggles-with-its-own-coronavirus-outbreak/2020/04/03/0e624fea-7517-11ea-ad9b-254ec99993bc_story.html

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Copyright by PIMSA 2019. All rights reserved.

Copyright by PIMSA 2019. All rights reserved.