Draegerwerk builds U.S. plant to fill respirator mask order

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German medical equipment maker Draegerwerk <DRWG_p.DE> said it would build a factory on the U.S. east coast within months to fill a government order for N95 respirator masks and that it was in talks with other governments over similar projects.

The company said in a statement on Tuesday it agreed to deliver a "high double-digit" million amount of the masks - a key piece of protective equipment for healthcare workers battling the coronavirus pandemic - to the U.S. Department of Health over the next 18 months.

The dedicated U.S. production facility for the masks that meet FFP2 filtration standards should start production in September, it added.

"Global production capacity of high-quality FFP masks has been fully exhausted. To meet demand anyway we will build a local plant exclusively for the U.S.," said executive board member Rainer Klug.

"Such an approach would also be possible in other countries, particularly in Europe. We are currently discussing such orders with several countries," he added.

Draegerwerk this month won a German government order for 10,000 ventilators for intensive respiratory care, equal to a typical year's production.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; editing by Thomas Seythal)