Ontario investing $1.54M in medical manufacturing companies
by CM Staff
The funding is spread out across 5 different manufacturers involved in a variety of medical manufacturing technologies.
TORONTO — The Ontario government is supporting an investment of more than $2.9 million by five local companies to try and strengthen manufacturing of domestic medical supplies to help control the spread of COVID-19. The province is investing more than $1.54 million through the Ontario Together Fund (OTF).
“The Ontario Together Fund continues to support domestic businesses through targeted investments that allow them to develop their ideas and solutions to help us through the pandemic,” said Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. “Ontario is proud to support these five companies, and we thank them for their innovations that are enhancing the province’s capacity to meet ongoing demands on our healthcare system and prepare for future challenges.”
McArthur Medical Sales Inc. is a Rockton, Ontario-based company that has developed and commercialized three products to assist hospitals in reducing the transmission of COVID 19 — Flusso By Pass, Flusso TFI and EXHALO Shield. These devices are used in collaboration with oxygen therapy systems and mechanical ventilators to improve patient care and reduce the spread of COVID-19, among other airborne contaminants.
McArthur Medical Sales is investing $798,000 to purchase manufacturing equipment and machinery to increase production by five times current capabilities. Ontario is supporting the investment with a contribution of $379,000 through the Ontario Together Fund.
AGS Zephyr Inc., a privately-owned Ontario-based company, founded by Sam Alesio, George Goto and Robert Sowka, specializing in air purification, is investing over $350,000 into a novel air filtration project which will involve building prototypes, conducting trials and manufacturing the company’s Personal Zone Air Purifier (PZAP) product for restaurants, classrooms and commercial, industrial and retail applications.
The Ontario government is investing $88,750 through the Ontario Together Fund to support the company during the development phase of their new product.
Synaptive Medical Inc. is a Toronto-based global medical device and technology company, creating robotic surgical visualization equipment. The company has invented a drape concept to help keep CT scanners free from patient contamination.
Synaptive Medical is investing $205,400 to adapt the current CT drape design into a prototype that is compatible with MRI and O-arm scanners to help shield them from patient contamination, including COVID-19. Ontario is supporting the investment with a contribution of $153,300 through the Ontario Together Fund.
Mitchell Plastics is a North American auto-parts manufacturer headquartered in Kitchener. The company invested $578,900 to retool a portion of its Canadian operations to manufacture nasopharyngeal swabs, which included converting a section of its facility into a clean-room environment. Ontario supported the investment with a contribution of $434,200 through the Ontario Together Fund.
The company can produce 400,000 nasopharyngeal testing swabs per month.
PAPP Plastics & Distributing Ltd. is a Windsor-based injection molded parts manufacturer with a background in tier 1 automotive manufacturing, parts assembly and mold manufacturing. The company invested $971,830 to repurpose one of its facilities to manufacture injection-molded nasopharyngeal swabs. Ontario supported the investment with a contribution of $490,000 through the Ontario Together Fund.
Through this project, the company has the capacity to produce 1 million testing swabs per week.
