Amsterdam, the Netherlands – Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, today announced that the U.S. Government and Philips agreed to team up to increase the production of hospital ventilators in its manufacturing sites in the U.S. Philips plans to double the production by May 2020 and achieve a four-fold increase by the third quarter of 2020 for supply to the U.S. and global markets. Such ventilators are critical for the treatment of patients with the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Philips will invest several tens of millions in its ventilator manufacturing sites in the U.S.
“We are actively collaborating with the U.S. government to help save lives in the U.S. and across the globe,” said Frans van Houten, CEO of Royal Philips. “There is an unprecedented global demand for medical equipment to help diagnose and treat patients with COVID-19. We welcome the support of the U.S. government in our efforts to aggressively increase the production of hospital ventilators. We believe in fair allocation of scarce medical equipment to those who need it the most, and we are ramping up to deliver 43,000 units to the most critical regions in the U.S. in the coming weeks and months through December 2020.”