Russia is preparing to produce its own ECMO devices
A Novosibirsk company is localizing the production of artificial oxygenation devices at a site in Moscow. They became in demand by Russian medical institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic.Technopolis Moscow, a resident of the special economic zone (SEZ), is preparing to launch the first Russian membrane oxygenator - a device for artificial oxygenation of blood. Production will begin in September 2023, the SEZ press service reported on July 30.
The company "Oksikor" plans to localize the production of medical devices at the site "Pechatniki". Investments in the project amounted to about 80 million rubles.
At the first stage it is planned to produce 10 thousand devices, after commissioning of the second stage of the plant in January 2024 - up to 50 thousand units per year, specified Deputy Mayor of Moscow on economic policy and property and land relations Vladimir Efimov.
According to him, today on the Russian market there are oxygenators of foreign manufacturers. The domestic device has passed clinical trials and is being registered in the Russian State Register of Medical Devices.
Oksikor LLC was registered in November 2022. According to SPARK, the company is equally owned by Novosibirsk-based InTech JSC and Natalia Onuprienko, who used to trade in orthopedic products. JSC InTech was established in 2022, due to reorganization and merger of the anchor shareholders' capitals, according to the company's website. The engineering center of JSC carries out high-tech developments in the field of medicine together with leading scientific and manufacturing organizations.
As Onuprienko noted, before the COVID-19 pandemic, the procedure of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) was carried out in rare cases, mainly for management of severe respiratory failure in newborns. In recent years, the practice of using the oxygenator has significantly expanded, and the interest in this product from the Ministry of Health has increased significantly. The manufacturer counts on orders from hospitals.
In August last year it became known that the procedure of state registration of ECMO devices is being conducted by two Russian manufacturers. This was reported by Maria Sukhanova, Deputy Head of the Department of Organization of State Control and Registration of Medical Devices of Roszdravnadzor.
Rostec companies were previously engaged in supplying such equipment to Russian medical institutions. Thus, under the government's assignment, the Ministry of Industry and Trade purchased 7.5 billion rubles worth of ventilators and ECMO machines from JSC KRET in 2020. In addition, hospitals and regional authorities purchased ECMO devices for more than 420 million rubles in the first 9 months of 2020, and for about 318 million rubles in the first 9 months of 2021.
Russian medicine does not have a specific algorithm for providing care using ECMO devices. The technology of using this equipment is only being discussed, and it is proposed to create separate clinical recommendations.