BioMedInnovations and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Recognized for SuppleVent® Collaboration

BioMedInnovations and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) received recognition from the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) for their collaboration in developing SuppleVent®, an emergency-use ventilator created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As concern grew over potential ventilator shortages, LLNL researchers set out to develop a durable, portable ventilator using readily available components that would not place additional pressure on existing medical-device supply chains. Working with BioMedInnovations, the team designed, produced, and tested the SuppleVent system in just over three months. 

The collaboration received an FLC Outstanding Partnership Award, recognizing the successful transfer of technology from a federal laboratory to an industry partner. The SuppleVent program subsequently received a 2021 Excellence in Technology Transfer Award, a national FLC honor recognizing the partnership’s rapid development and commercialization effort. 

The project brought together LLNL’s engineering and research capabilities with BioMedInnovations’ experience in precision air and fluid-flow medical technologies. Much of the collaboration was conducted remotely during pandemic shelter-in-place restrictions, requiring scientists, engineers, medical experts, technology-transfer professionals, and industry partners to coordinate across organizations and locations. 

The recognition highlighted not only the SuppleVent technology, but also the public-private partnership that enabled the team to move rapidly from development and testing to an FDA-authorized emergency-use device during an extraordinary period of need.