Ambu (company)

Ambu A/S

Type	Public (Nasdaq Copenhagen: AMBU B)
Industry	Healthcare
Founded	1937
Headquarters	Copenhagen, Denmark
Key people	Jens Bager, Chairman Lars Marcher, President & CEO Michael Højgaard, CFO
Products	Ambu bag, Aura Laryngeal masks, aScope single use videoscope, BlueSensor Electrodes, Neuroline Electrodes
Revenue	1,889 million DKK (2014–2015) [1]
Number of employees	2,270 (2015)
Website	www.ambu.com

Ambu A/S is a Danish company that develops, produces, and markets diagnostic and life-supporting equipment and solutions to hospitals and rescue services.

Founded in Denmark in 1937 as Testa Laboratorium by German engineer Holger Hesse, Ph.D. who had the ambition of building a business dedicated to product developments which would contribute to the saving of human lives.

The largest business areas are Anesthesia, Cardiology and Neurology in which the most important products are ventilation products for artificial respiration and single-use electrodes for ECG tests and neurophysiological mappings.

The first of these - a self-inflating resuscitator designed in collaboration with Danish anesthetist Henning Ruben and marketed under the name 'Ambu' - was launched in 1956. The name Ambu was subsequently (in 1986) chosen as the new company name. Today, Ambu resuscitators are in use all over the world in every emergency medical environment. The Ambu name has become an example of a Genericized trademark, as all manual bag resuscitators in medical settings are now often referred to generically as "Ambu bags," even though Ambu brand resuscitator bags are still produced and other companies are not allowed to use the Ambu trademark.

Ambu aScope is a single-use videoscope which is used by anaesthetists to visualise the airways of patients being anaesthetised. When under general anaesthetic, patients typically cannot breathe unaided. The anaesthetists ensure that the airways are not obstructed and help the patient to breathe. Breathing is typically ensured by means of a laryngeal mask or through endotracheal intubation using an ET tube. With some patients, it is difficult to maintain breathing due to obesity, narrowings etc. of the neck and throat. In such cases, the anaesthetists can use an Ambu aScope as an alternative to a reusable scope.