PHOENIX – John Warren, COO of WearAir Ventures has been developing oxygen concentrator technology since 1999. His research continues with a clear mission to optimize portable oxygen concentrators (POCs) for patients.

As an exhibitor at last month’s Medtrade in Phoenix, Warren explained: “One of the problems we have with POCs is that the molecular sieve inside the sieve beds loves water. Once water vapor from the air gets in there, they don’t work as well. The purity coming out of the sieve beds over time is reduced. Patients are not getting the same therapeutic value later on as they were on day one.”

It took about six months, but Warren finally had a conversations with officials at the Food and Drug Administration. He asked them, “Do you agree that two volumes of 50% oxygen is the same as one volume of 100% oxygen?”

The answer was “yes” and that realization has implications. “We can talk about therapy in terms of volume of oxygen, not purity of oxygen,” Warren explains. “When those sieve beds start degrading, we can have a sensor inside the concentrator that says we’re only making about 70% oxygen.”

Warren contends that all POCs basically look the same. “If I were a new patient, I would not know which one to get,” he muses. “If you take the reported information from all the concentrators—from very small to very large—they all on average produce 200 ml of oxygen per minute, per pound—every single one, no matter how big or small.

“WearAir changes that ratio,” he continues. “Instead of being a commodity, this enables the licensee to step above the crowd. The challenge I’ve had is getting people to see things in a different way. We want to license to the manufacturers of the machines and enable them to have a product that does not look like everybody else.”

According to Warren, WearAir Ventures’ patented POC software can:
• enable continuous flow for sleep;
• increase oxygen output by 60% or more; and
• maintain oxygen production during sieve bed life.