Heightened demand for N95 respirators means that product counterfeiting, faulty stock, and price gouging are ongoing issues, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Alison Casey, Medical Device Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “GlobalData estimates that sales of N95 respirators in US healthcare facilities more than doubled between December 2019 and January 2020 to surpass 50 million. While manufacturer 3M Co continues to dominate this market, the strongest sales growth was observed in smaller companies such as Alpha ProTech and Moldex-Metric.”

Last week, a hospital in New Jersey was sold a thousand faulty N95 respirators that did not pass clinician tests upon arrival, and for which they could not verify the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) certification. Similarly, the Netherlands recalled approximately 600,000 KN95 respirators imported from China, due to their not meeting the required quality standards.

Due to global shortages, 3M Co has ramped up production of N95 respirators, doubling its normal output. Other manufacturers of N95 respirators such as Honeywell International, Owens & Minor, and Prestige Ameritech are also pushing their manufacturing capacity to the limits as they struggle to keep up with the new, unprecedented demand.