Johnson & Johnson subsidiary to make Prisma ventilator splitter

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Prisma Health will team up with a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary to produce and distribute the VESper Ventilator Expansion Splitter given emergency approval in late March.

Using Prisma Health’s prototype, Johnson & Johnson Medical Device subsidiary Ethicon Inc. will use 3D printing technology and existing supply chain networks to share VESper free of charge with hospitals across the country, according to a news release. The device will be used under a U.S. Food and Drug Administration Emergency Use Authorization to allow two patients to simultaneously use a single.

"Our goal is to provide health care providers with an emergency use device for critical patients in rapid time at no cost," Prisma Health President and CEO Mark O'Halla said in the release. "We are pleased to announce this collaboration with Ethicon which brings nationwide scale and expertise for the manufacturing and distribution of VESper by a top-tier medical device company."

Health care providers can submit a request for the device, packaged by the dozen, online, with priority given to health care providers with the greatest need. The news release says VESper users should read the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ “Optimizing Ventilator Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic” guidelines.

The device was developed by Prisma physicians in collaboration with Clemson University and the University of South Carolina.

"Bringing this device to fruition took a village," Dr. Marjorie Jenkins, chief academic officer at Prisma Health-Upstate and dean of the USC School of Medicine-Greenville, said in the release. "In addition to our founding team of inventors, collaborators and university partners — Clemson University and the University of South Carolina — our sincere compliments to the many, many industry partners who stepped forward during this public health crisis to support us, including Ethicon, Hewlett-Packard Inc. and its Digital Manufacturing Network, Salesforce, AzimuthDS, the Sargent Foundation, and the FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health."