As coronavirus sweeps the globe, there is not a single
Trilogy Evo Universal ventilator — developed with government funds — in the
U.S. stockpile. Meanwhile, Royal Philips N.V. has sold higher-priced versions
to clients around the world.
Five years ago, the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services tried to plug a crucial hole in its preparations for a global
pandemic, signing a $13.8 million contract with a Pennsylvania manufacturer to
create a low-cost, portable, easy-to-use ventilator that could be stockpiled
for emergencies.
This past September, with the design of the new Trilogy Evo
Universal finally cleared by the Food and Drug Administration, HHS ordered
10,000 of the ventilators for the
But as the pandemic continues to spread across the globe,
there is still not a single Trilogy Evo Universal in the stockpile.
Instead last summer, soon after the FDA’s approval, the
Pennsylvania company that designed the device — a subsidiary of the Dutch
appliance and technology giant Royal Philips N.V. — began selling two higher-priced
commercial versions of the same ventilator around the world.
“We sell to whoever
calls,” said a saleswoman at a small medical-supply company on Staten Island
that bought 50 Trilogy Evo ventilators from Philips in early March and last
week hiked its online price from $12,495 to $17,154. “We have hundreds of
orders to fill. I think America didn’t take this seriously at first, and now
everyone’s frantic.”
Last Friday, President Donald Trump invoked the Defense
Production Act to compel General Motors to begin mass-producing another company’s
ventilator under a federal contract. But neither Trump nor other senior
officials made any mention of the Trilogy Evo Universal. Nor did HHS officials
explain why they did not force Philips to accelerate delivery of these
ventilators earlier this year, when it became clear that the virus was
overwhelming medical facilities around the world.
An HHS spokeswoman told ProPublica that Philips had agreed
to make the Trilogy Evo Universal ventilator “as soon as possible.” However, a
Philips spokesman said the company has no plan to even begin production anytime
this year.
Instead, Philips is negotiating with a White House team led
by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to build 43,000 more complex and
expensive hospital ventilators for Americans stricken by the virus.
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