Amsterdam, the Netherlands – Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, today announced shipment of its two-millionth AED (Automated External Defibrillator), which was delivered to a customer in Italy. This achievement marks a major milestone in almost 20 years of Philips innovation in cardiac resuscitation aimed at providing personalized therapy to victims of sudden cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrests can happen anywhere, at any time, and bystander intervention and treatment with an AED has been shown to triple the survival rate to 31.4 percent [1].
“We are very proud of the knowledge that Philips AEDs have helped to save lives every day for almost two decades,” said Arman Voskerchyan, Business Leader Therapeutic Care at Philips. “As we have reached the incredible milestone of shipping our two-millionth AED worldwide, we will continue to provide our customers with reliable, easy-to-use lifesaving solutions.”
“We are very proud of the knowledge that Philips AEDs have helped to save lives every day for almost two decades.”
Arman Voskerchyan
Business Leader Therapeutic Care at Philips.
Earlier this year, Philips and the American Heart Association announced a collaboration to increase sudden cardiac arrest survival rates in densely populated cities around the world. The Connected Pulse program leverages a unique end-to-end solution combining education programs to increase awareness of CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation), the use of publicly available AEDs, and new technologies to strengthen the ‘chain of survival’ from the moment an incident occurs to the patient reaching the hospital.
A pioneer in AED innovation and reliability
Philips’ HeartStart OnSite AED made the implementation of early AED programs in communities, schools and businesses much easier, while the Philips HeartStart Home AED remains the only AED available in the US for home use. Philips was also the first to introduce an AED for pediatric use, and was a pioneer in providing AEDs for use in airplanes. Today, Philips AEDs are available across the globe, on board major airlines, in Fortune 100 companies, and in the locker rooms of professional sports teams worldwide.
Philips recently announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the company’s premarket approval (PMA) application for its HeartStart OnSite AED [2] and HeartStart Home AED [3], and the relevant accessories, such as batteries and electrodes [4].
More information on Philips’ portfolio of AEDs and the two-millionth AED milestone is available here.
[1] Response to Cardiac Arrest and Selected Life-Threatening Medical Emergencies, Mary Fran Hazinski; et al, American Heart Association, September 16, 2016
[2] Model M5066A
[3] Model M5068A
[4] Battery Model M5070A. SMART Pads Cartridges Models M5071A and M5072A