The CEO of Nectar Product Development, Saravis decided to start a new firm called BreathDirect that could help with the ventilator shortage in the United States.
- Name: Darren Saravis
- Title: CEO
- Company: Nectar, Inc.
- Region: Long Beach, CA
- Industry: Engineering
- Vistage Chair: Tom Hardesty
The Challenge: Medical device entrepreneur Darren Saravis recently woke up at 4 a.m. worrying about what he could do to help in the fight against the coronavirus.
Leadership Opportunity: The CEO of Nectar Product Development, Saravis decided to start a new firm called BreathDirect that could help with the ventilator shortage in the United States.
"We designed a ventilator that has
the minimum specs to treat COVID-19 clinically using all locally-sourced
parts," says Saravis, who has developed more than 1,000 medical products
over the past 25 years. "That was the big pivot."
The
new emergency device, which still needs approval from the FDA, will cost about
$10,000-which is half the cost of a full-featured ventilator. Saravis says that
he expects to be able to mass produce it at a rate of 3,500 per week in May and
40,000 per month by June.
