The U.S. FDA has granted emergency use authorization (EUA) to Breath Direct Inc. for its BDR-19 critical care ventilator for the treatment of critical care patients with respiratory insufficiency. Initial shipments of the device are expected within weeks. The EUA marks a major milestone for the fledgling Long Beach, Calif.-based company, which was started by medical device entrepreneur Darren Saravis in the early days of the pandemic.

MIT Media Labs spinoff Empatica Inc. secured the CE mark for its Aura system, a wearable solution for the monitoring and early alert of respiratory infections, including COVID-19. For use with people 14 and older, Aura is commercially available in Europe and the U.K., and for pilot purposes in the U.S. – pending FDA authorization. Aura’s algorithm analyzes vital signs from Empatica smartwatches, comparing data against the wearer’s historical baselines. In validation studies, Aura was able to detect patients with possible H1N1 influenza, rhinovirus or SARS-CoV-2 infection with 0.94 sensitivity. Detection occurred on average two days after infection.