Fitbit planning to build ventilators to help treat Covid-19 patients

Fitbit CEO James Park has told CNBC that his company will be shifting supply chain resources to make emergency ventilators. These ventilators will be used to treat Covid-19 patients and can help bolster national supply of medical devices.

“There was a lot of concern about the shortage of ventilators and we realized we had expertise already around the supply chain,” Park said to CNBC.

Fitbit plans to submit ventilator designs to the Food and Drug Administration under emergency authorisation “in the coming days”, as per the CNBC report. An emergency authorisation allows a medical device/product that has not been officially approved by the FDA to be used to treat a life-threatening disease.