Cristian Fracassi and Alessandro Romaioli were recruited by Italian professor Massimo Temporelli and made three versions of the valve using their own 3D printer.
The device was made in order to meet a sudden surge in demand. A hospital in Italy was running out of valves and their supplier said they will not be able to make them in time to treat patients suffering from the novel coronavirus infection, COVID-19. This motivated the team to act.
As of March 14th, according to Temporelli, the valves have worked for 10 patients in a hospital.
Fracassi wrote in a Facebook post, “[The patients] were people in danger of life, and we acted. Period. We have no intention of profit on this situation, we are not going to use the designs or product beyond the strict need for us forced to act, we are not going to spread the drawing.”
