Seattle Children’s Invention Lands Major Funding with Hopes of Saving Thousands of Infant Lives Globally Each Year | Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Receives $2.3 million from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to complete development of affordable respiratory support device

SEATTLE -- Seattle Children’s Research Institute today announced the receipt of a two-year, $2.3 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to complete prototype development of its new respiratory support device, called Seattle Children’s Positive Airway Pressure (Sea-PAP.) Sea-PAP, designed to be an affordable and simple Bubble Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (B-CPAP) device, will provide breathing support to premature infants who suffer from respiratory distress. Upon completion, Sea-PAP will be significantly cheaper to produce, operate, and maintain than other ventilators and respiratory support devices.

Children’s expects the affordability of Sea-PAP will lead to rapid adoption in the developing world and beyond. The simple design shrinks the cost to a fraction of the $30,000 price tag for conventional ventilators, making Sea-PAP and its life-saving therapy accessible to healthcare systems that lack the resources to purchase and operate complex, expensive equipment.

To read the full release, visit the Seattle Children's Hospital web site.