CAE ventilator receives Health Canada certification, starts shipping

CAE shipping ventilators across Canada Montreal-based CAE is shipping some 10,000 ventilators across Canada as the country prepares for a potential second wave of COVID-19.

MONTREAL — Health Canada has certified new medical ventilators that were ordered by the federal government to ensure adequate supplies for treating severe cases of the COVID-19 respiratory disease.

The CAE Air1 and the Baylis V4C-560 ventilators were created by separate groups under federal contracts announced in April after the World Health Organization declared a COVID-19 pandemic.

Montreal-based CAE Inc. and the Ventilators for Canadians consortium announced separately Wednesday that Health Canada had certified their respective models.

Both groups said they'll now be able to begin manufacturing the equipment, which is used by hospitals to help patients breathe.

CAE's usual business is to design and make flight simulators used for pilot training, but the company shifted gears to design and build a medical ventilator.

The V4C consortium includes FTI Professional Grade Inc. as the prime contractor and Baylis Medical, a manufacturing subcontractor that adapted a design from Medtronic.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 17, 2020.