Respiratory-machine maker breathes easier

Vapotherm Inc. is waging a comeback after revenue at the Stevensville respiratory device maker disappeared two years ago.

The company's only product, an innovative machine that heats and moistens air to help patients breathe better, was still gaining market share during the summer of 2005 when disaster struck.

Its device was in more than 900 hospitals and the eight-year-old company was about to reach the break-even point.

That's when Kevin Thibodeau, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, was calling on a hospital in California and a message from a Vapotherm distributor flashed on his BlackBerry: One Pennsylvania hospital had reported that a Vapotherm machine had become contaminated with a bacterium called Ralstonia. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was investigating.