The mass ventilator developed by Hungarians to be tested soon

Many helping hands and minds contributed to the success of the project.

Thanks to the volunteer team of the MassVentil Project, under the leadership of Miklós Kozlovszky MD and with the support of the University of Óbuda, the first modular mass ventilation system developed in Hungary will be built, which will be suitable for the care of up to fifty patients battling with the coronavirus at the same time. The members of the project explained to Magyar Nemzet that they are already in the preparatory stage of the preclinical testing of the system, after which the clinical trial may follow, now with the involvement of people. The developers also reported that growing and increasingly strict requirements as a result of the coronavirus epidemic pose new challenges for them, so they are currently working on a prototype that can be built into a container.

“During the development in recent months, we had to develop a number of prototypes in order to prove the functionality of the original mass ventilation concept in all respects. However, in addition to the test environment, the system must also be tested on living organisms, so the preparation of animal testing is currently underway,” reported to Magyar Nemzet the professional team of the MassVentil Project.

The members of the volunteer group described the current phase of the development: during the animal testing, they examined whether there were any microscopically observable lung tissue injuries after long artificial ventilation cycles. However, these studies should not be performed on humans, but

if the preclinical trials are successful, clinical trials may follow, now involving humans.

According to them, this phase will be followed by the production phase, when a prototype version will be made. Then, a series of different tests and authorisations are needed for mass production and marketing, which require a manufacturer of professional medical devices. “We are now working to make the invention a real product on the market with the help of such a collaboration,” the developers said. They added that they are very close to a solution and noted that this pace is extremely fast in the market for this type of medical device, where similar developments typically take four to eight years.

Summarising the results of the last months, the participants also recalled that not everyone welcomed the idea of the revolutionary equipment – like all large-scale innovations, the concept of a mass ventilation system had its sceptics, so the developers try to counter this with professional presentations, and ultimately, a working prototype speaks for itself. It also helped a lot that