The OxVent is a rapid prototype ventilator that could keep people breathing while they battle the worst impacts of COVID-19.

Andrew Farmery of the University of Oxford, one of the people involved in its development, talks about its past, present, and potential.

How are you?
I’m very well, although slightly knackered. It’s been a very long week. It’s been absolutely incredible, from nothing a week ago when we first had an idle chat Monday morning last week, to this afternoon, when we pitched it to the Cabinet and the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency). We’re waiting to hear whether they think it’s a goer or not.

It’s been phenomenal, just going through several different designs and prototyping, involving all the different people, engineers, regulation experts. It’s been an amazing collaboration between my colleagues at Oxford and also King’s and all sorts of people just phoning up and offering to take on tasks and get all the documentation together, which is about as tall as I am. Now we’re just waiting for the call from the Cabinet Office.

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