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Dräger

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A German, family-controlled international specialist in medical and safety technology.

Last updated November 4, 2026

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Overview

Dräger is the principal operating brand of Drägerwerk AG & Co. KGaA, a Lübeck-based German technology group that develops, manufactures, sells, and services equipment and integrated systems for medical care and occupational, industrial, emergency-response, and public-safety applications. Its stated purpose is commonly expressed through the principle “Technology for Life.” The company’s portfolio spans acute-care medical technology, including anesthesia workstations, intensive-care and emergency ventilators, patient monitoring, neonatal-care systems, hospital supply units, operating-room information systems, and medical-gas infrastructure; and safety technology, including portable and stationary gas detection, respiratory protection, firefighter equipment, professional diving and rebreather systems, alcohol and drug testing instruments, thermal-imaging cameras, and related training and service offerings. The business began in Lübeck on January 1, 1889, when Johann Heinrich Dräger and Carl Adolf Gerling founded Dräger & Gerling. The early company sold technical equipment such as beer-dispensing systems, but compressed-gas applications quickly led to the development of the Lubeca pressure-reducing valve. That technology became the foundation for later work in breathing apparatus, anesthesia, ventilation, diving rescue, and gas measurement. Dräger established a United States subsidiary in 1907 and progressively built an international business serving mining, medicine, industrial production, fire and rescue services, military and civil protection organizations, and law enforcement. Dräger’s historical identity is closely associated with respiratory protection and hazard detection. Its mining-rescue equipment contributed to the widespread use of “Drägerman” as a generic term for rescue workers in parts of the North American mining industry. The company introduced early breathing-gas gauges, mine-rescue apparatus, portable emergency ventilators, and colorimetric detector tubes. Its detector-tube technology replaced the traditional reliance on animals as early warnings for toxic gases and remains an important part of the company’s safety-technology heritage. Dräger also developed heavy diving equipment, self-contained rescue systems, and recreational and military rebreathers. In medical technology, Dräger moved from gas-control and anesthesia applications into increasingly integrated critical-care systems. The Roth-Dräger anesthesia apparatus was developed in the early twentieth century, the Pulmotor became an early portable emergency ventilator, the Babylog line addressed premature-infant ventilation, and the Evita family became a major platform for modern mechanical ventilation. The division now combines devices, software, infrastructure, clinical workflow integration, maintenance, fleet management, and financing services rather than focusing only on individual products. The company’s history also includes serious responsibility issues connected with the Nazi period. Dräger’s facilities used forced labor during the Second World War, including women transferred from the Ravensbrück concentration camp to the Hamburg-Wandsbek site. The company has since supported memorialization, including a memorial site opened near the former camp in 2010 and Stolpersteine installed in Lübeck in 2022. These facts are an essential part of a complete account of the brand’s history. Dräger became a public limited company in 1970, carried out an initial public offering of preferred shares in 1979, and changed its legal form to an AG & Co. KGaA in 2007. The family has remained central to governance, with Stefan Dräger representing the fifth generation as chairman of the executive board since 2005. Dräger’s group structure is now organized around Medical and Safety divisions, supported by global sales, service, research, manufacturing, and regulatory operations. Products are sold in more than 190 countries, with subsidiaries in approximately 50 countries and development and production locations across several regions. The COVID-19 pandemic sharply increased demand for Dräger ventilators and respiratory masks. The company expanded production capacity and received a German government order for 10,000 ventilators, although only 1,557 were ultimately delivered before the remaining order was cancelled. Pandemic-related demand later receded. Supply-chain disruption affected the business in 2022, while stabilization and stronger Chinese demand supported recovery in 2023. In 2024, the group generated net sales of approximately €3.371 billion and invested approximately €333.1 million in research and development. In 2025, Dräger reported record net sales of around €3.5 billion, with both divisions contributing to growth. The brand remains positioned as a specialist provider of life-support, hazard-detection, personal-protection, and service solutions rather than as a broad consumer-equipment company.

History

Dräger was established in Lübeck on January 1, 1889, as Dräger & Gerling by Johann Heinrich Dräger and Carl Adolf Gerling. The original business sold technical equipment, including beer-dispensing systems that used compressed carbon dioxide. The company’s breakthrough came with the Lubeca valve, a pressure reducer patented in the founding year. Controlled withdrawal of gas from high-pressure cylinders created a platform for breathing-gas regulation, anesthesia, ventilation, diving, and industrial safety. At the turn of the twentieth century, Dräger expanded from gas-control components into complete devices. It introduced a pressure gauge for breathing-gas cylinders in 1899, developed the Roth-Dräger anesthesia apparatus in 1902, and produced early mine-rescue breathing equipment. In 1907, the company developed a diving-rescue device for submarine crews and the Pulmotor emergency ventilator. That same year, it opened its first United States subsidiary, beginning a global commercial presence. Bernhard Dräger became sole owner in 1912, and the company thereafter operated under a family-centered structure. The interwar period brought both innovation and disruption. World War I created demand for respiratory-protection products, but the postwar collapse sharply reduced orders. During the hyperinflation and economic crisis of the early 1920s, Dräger temporarily shut down a plant for restructuring and manufactured alternative goods. The loss of foreign patents also allowed competitors to copy earlier products. Bernhard Dräger responded by strengthening technical development. Heinrich Dräger joined the company in 1927 and became its leader in 1928 after his father’s death. During the Nazi period and World War II, Dräger benefited from rearmament and converted part of its production to military and civil-defense equipment. The company manufactured large quantities of respiratory-protection devices and the civilian “people’s gas mask.” Its wartime growth was tied to the forced labor system. Approximately 1,200 forced laborers were employed by 1941, and in 1944 nearly 500 women were transported from the Ravensbrück concentration camp to the company’s Hamburg-Wandsbek facilities. They produced gas masks and cleared bomb debris; some prisoners were subjected to experiments concerning survival in sealed air-raid shelters. The historical record of this period is central to understanding Dräger’s corporate responsibility and subsequent memorial work. Postwar Dräger rebuilt its business around medical and safety technology. The company introduced alcohol test tubes in 1953, creating a line that was later used by police forces and employers around the world. More than 30 million tubes were produced before electronic instruments replaced them and production ended in 2016. Dräger continued developing diving, mine-rescue, gas-measurement, and respiratory-protection products while expanding its medical portfolio. It produced equipment used in high-altitude oxygen systems associated with Himalayan expeditions and developed additional rebreathers for rescue, military, professional, and recreational diving. Medical technology became increasingly important during the second half of the twentieth century. The Babylog neonatal ventilator, introduced in 1975, addressed the needs of premature infants. The Evita series, introduced in 1985, used computer and display technology to integrate mechanical ventilation with spontaneous breathing. Dräger also developed neonatal warming and resuscitation equipment, anesthesia workstations, patient monitoring, operating-room infrastructure, hospital supply systems, and medical-gas management. A joint venture with Siemens was established in medical technology in 2003; Dräger held 75 percent and Siemens 25 percent. Dräger repurchased Siemens’s minority stake in 2009, bringing the medical business under complete Dräger control. The company entered the public markets in stages. It became a public limited company in 1970 and completed an IPO of preferred shares in 1979. In 2003, it sold its aerospace division to Cobham and in 2004 acquired Air-Shields, strengthening its medical and neonatal portfolio. Stefan Dräger became chairman of the executive board in 2005, continuing a multigenerational family leadership tradition. Drägerwerk changed its legal form to an AG & Co. KGaA in 2007, and common shares began trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2010. In the 2010s, Dräger expanded its safety-technology capabilities through acquisitions and investments, including Gassecure in 2015 and a majority stake in Bentekk in 2017. These transactions supported gas-sensor and industrial gas-detection applications in sectors such as oil, gas, chemicals, and resource extraction. The group also continued to develop portable and fixed gas detectors, respiratory protection, firefighter systems, alcohol interlocks, thermal imaging, professional diving systems, and customer training. The COVID-19 pandemic created an exceptional surge in demand for ventilators and respiratory masks. Dräger rapidly expanded capacity and received a large German government order, although only part of the order was ultimately delivered. Pandemic-related demand lifted 2020 revenue substantially, while Dräger’s COVID-19 home-test production ended as demand declined in 2021. Supply-chain pressures contributed to a revenue decline in 2022, followed by stabilization and recovery in 2023. More recent decisions show a focus on core medical and safety technology. Dräger ceased its safety-technology business in Russia after the invasion of Ukraine and related sanctions. It also discontinued Dräger MSI’s measurement-technology activities; REMS acquired the relevant portfolio of electronic flue-gas, pressure, leakage, and leak-detection instruments in October 2024. Dräger’s 2024 annual statements recorded group net sales of €3.371 billion and research-and-development costs of €333.1 million. In 2025, the company reported record net sales of approximately €3.5 billion. The contemporary Dräger brand therefore combines a long history of gas and breathing technology with a modern two-division model serving hospitals, industry, mining, fire and rescue, law enforcement, defense, civil protection, and other high-consequence environments.

  • 2025

    Record annual net sales reported

    [5]

    Dräger reports approximately €3.5 billion in 2025 net sales, its highest level at that time.

  • 2024

    Dräger MSI portfolio transferred to REMS

    [6]

    REMS acquires the Dräger MSI portfolio of electronic measurement instruments through an asset deal effective October 1, 2024.

  • 2020

    COVID-19 production expansion

    [1]

    Dräger expands ventilator and respiratory-mask production to respond to the pandemic surge in demand.

  • 2017

    Bentekk investment

    [1]

    Dräger takes a majority stake in Bentekk to strengthen industrial gas detection.

  • 2015

    Gassecure acquired

    [1]

    The acquisition adds gas-sensor expertise for hydrocarbon and industrial applications.

  • 2010

    Common shares begin Frankfurt trading

    [1]

    Dräger’s common shares begin trading publicly alongside the already traded preferred shares.

  • 2009

    Siemens sells its minority stake in the medical joint venture

    [1]

    Dräger repurchases Siemens’s 25 percent interest, restoring full ownership of the medical-technology business.

  • 2005

    Stefan Dräger becomes chairman

    [3]

    Stefan Dräger takes over as chairman of the executive board, representing the fifth generation of family leadership.

  • 2004

    Air-Shields acquired

    [1]

    The acquisition expands Dräger’s infant-care and neonatal-medical portfolio.

  • 2003

    Aerospace division sold to Cobham

    [1]

    Dräger divests its aerospace division and concentrates more strongly on medical and safety technology.

Products and positioning

A specialist, engineering-led provider of integrated medical and safety technology, emphasizing respiratory care, critical-care workflows, hazard detection, personal protection, emergency response, regulatory reliability, lifecycle service, and the long-term principle of “Technology for Life.”

  • Intensive-care ventilators · 1985

    Evita

    The Evita family is Dräger’s best-known intensive-care ventilation platform. It is designed for invasive and non-invasive respiratory support in acute-care environments and incorporates monitoring, control, and connectivity functions intended to support clinicians across changing patient conditions. The line represents Dräger’s transition from standalone respiratory devices toward integrated critical-care systems.

  • Neonatal ventilators · 1975

    Babylog

    Babylog is Dräger’s neonatal ventilation family for premature and newborn infants. The platform addresses the particular sensitivity of neonatal lungs and supports respiratory therapy in perinatal and intensive-care settings. It is part of Dräger’s broader neonatal-care offering, which also includes warming, resuscitation, monitoring, and workflow equipment.

  • Neonatal care systems

    Babyroo

    Babyroo is a neonatal warming and care system intended for postnatal support. It combines thermal management with an integrated resuscitation function and automated control of parameters such as oxygen concentration and positive end-expiratory pressure. The system reflects Dräger’s strategy of combining several neonatal-care functions in one clinical platform.

  • Anesthesia workstations

    Perseus

    Perseus is an anesthesia workstation for operating-room environments. It combines anesthesia delivery, ventilation, monitoring, and workflow-related functions in a system intended for a range of surgical procedures. It belongs to Dräger’s acute-care portfolio alongside ventilators, patient monitoring, ceiling supply units, and operating-room infrastructure.

  • Portable gas detectors

    X-am

    X-am is a family of portable multi-gas detectors for personal protection and hazardous-area monitoring. Depending on configuration, instruments can measure oxygen as well as toxic and combustible gases or vapors. The line is used in industrial, mining, emergency-response, and confined-space applications and builds on Dräger’s long history in gas measurement.

  • Respiratory protection

    X-plore

    X-plore is Dräger’s respiratory-protection portfolio, including powered air-purifying respirators and related protective systems. Products are intended for industrial, emergency-response, and other hazardous environments where users require protection from particulates, gases, vapors, or oxygen-deficient conditions, depending on the specific configuration.

  • Self-contained breathing apparatus

    BG ProAir

    BG ProAir is a self-contained breathing apparatus designed for extended operations by firefighters, mine-rescue teams, and other professional responders. The system is intended to combine respiratory protection, wearer information, and operational endurance for demanding environments where responders may be exposed to smoke, toxic gases, heat, or oxygen deficiency.

  • Thermal-imaging cameras

    UCF FireCore

    UCF FireCore is a thermal-imaging camera for fire and rescue services. Thermal imaging helps responders identify heat sources, locate people, navigate smoke-filled environments, and assess fire conditions. The product belongs to Dräger’s broader responder portfolio, which combines personal protection, breathing apparatus, detection, communications, and training solutions.

  • Alcohol testing instruments

    Alcotest

    Alcotest is Dräger’s electronic breath-alcohol testing family, developed after the company’s earlier detector-tube products. The instruments are used by law-enforcement organizations, workplaces, and other professional users for screening and measurement. The product line is part of Dräger’s safety and substance-testing activities rather than its hospital business.

  • Colorimetric gas measurement · 1937

    Dräger gas detector tubes

    Dräger detector tubes use a chemical reagent that changes color when a sampled gas passes through the tube. A pump draws a known volume of air through the tube, and the length or intensity of the color change indicates concentration. The technology remains useful for spot checks, industrial hygiene, emergency response, and situations where electronic instrumentation is impractical.

  • Recreational diving rebreathers

    Dolphin and Ray

    Dolphin and Ray are semi-closed-circuit nitrox rebreathers developed for recreational diving. They use a breathing loop and gas-injection system to recycle exhaled gas after carbon-dioxide removal. These products connect Dräger’s historic work in submarine escape and professional diving with the recreational-diving market.

  • Military rebreathers

    LAR and LAV

    The LAR and LAV families are military oxygen and mixed-mode rebreathers intended for specialized underwater operations. Their closed-circuit or switchable circuit designs support low-bubble and extended-duration missions, subject to the particular model and operating configuration. They represent the continuation of Dräger’s long-standing diving-rescue and breathing-apparatus expertise.

Controversies

  • 2010

    Memorialization of forced laborers

    A memorial site was opened near the former Hamburg-Wandsbek camp in 2010. In 2022, five Stolpersteine were placed in front of Dräger in Lübeck for people connected with forced labor and Nazi persecution, with company sponsorship.

    Source

  • 1939

    Forced labor and wartime production during the Nazi period

    During the Second World War, Drägerwerk participated in armaments and civil-defense production and employed forced laborers. Records describe approximately 1,200 forced laborers employed by 1941 and nearly 500 women transferred from the Ravensbrück concentration camp to the company’s Hamburg-Wandsbek facilities in 1944. The women produced gas masks, cleared bomb damage, and some were subjected to experiments involving survival in sealed air-raid shelters.

    Source

Read more

Marketing campaigns

  • 2020COVID-19 pandemic information program

    Worldwide

    During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dräger created information and application materials addressing ventilator use, medical devices, respiratory protection, and reprocessing. The initiative supported healthcare professionals and safety users as demand for respiratory equipment increased.

    Outcome. The program accompanied a major expansion of ventilator and respiratory-mask production and helped communicate product-use guidance during the public-health emergency.

    Source
  • Technology for Life

    Worldwide

    “Technology for Life” is Dräger’s long-running corporate purpose and brand platform. It links the Medical and Safety divisions through the idea that products and services should protect, support, and save lives. The platform is used across corporate communications, product marketing, recruitment, customer education, and sustainability messaging.

    Outcome. It provides a common identity for a diversified portfolio spanning hospitals, industry, emergency response, mining, fire services, and public safety.

    Source

Brand decisions

  • 2025

    Continue investment in integrated medical and safety systemsStrategy

    Background

    Dräger reported record group sales and continued to emphasize systems, services, interoperability, innovation, and profitability in both divisions.

    Action taken

    The company continued investing in research and development, services, medical interoperability, safety technology, and growth areas including defense, civil protection, and cleantech.

    Aftermath

    Dräger reported approximately €3.5 billion in 2025 net sales, with growth in both the Medical and Safety divisions.

    Group net sales. €3,370.880 million in 2024 → Approximately €3.5 billion in 2025 (Fiscal years 2024 and 2025)

    Source

  • 2024

    Discontinue Dräger MSI measurement-technology activitiesStrategy

    Background

    Dräger announced that Dräger MSI GmbH would discontinue its business activities, affecting electronic instruments for flue-gas measurement, pressure and leakage testing, and leak detection.

    Action taken

    Dräger discontinued the MSI business and arranged for REMS Messtechnik to acquire the relevant in-house product portfolio through an asset deal.

    Aftermath

    The transaction became effective on October 1, 2024, allowing the product portfolio and parts of the customer-service infrastructure to continue under REMS.

    Source

  • 2022

    Exit the Russian safety-technology businessStrategy

    Background

    Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions changed the legal, commercial, and reputational environment for operations in Russia.

    Action taken

    Dräger ceased its safety-technology business in Russia.

    Aftermath

    The decision reduced the group’s presence in the Russian market and aligned operations with the sanctions environment.

    Source

  • 2020

    Accelerate ventilator and mask production during COVID-19Product launch

    Background

    The pandemic created an exceptional global requirement for intensive-care ventilators and respiratory protection.

    Action taken

    Dräger doubled ventilator production capacity in February 2020 and planned a second doubling by March; respiratory-mask production was also increased.

    Aftermath

    Germany ordered 10,000 ventilators, but only 1,557 were ultimately delivered before the remainder was cancelled. Demand later declined as the acute pandemic phase receded.

    Group revenue. Approximately €3.4 billion (2020; revenue increased 22.5 percent year on year)

    Source

  • 2009

    Repurchase Siemens’s medical-technology stakeM&A

    Background

    Dräger and Siemens had operated a medical-technology joint venture in which Dräger held 75 percent and Siemens held 25 percent.

    Action taken

    Dräger repurchased Siemens AG’s minority interest.

    Aftermath

    Dräger regained full ownership of the medical-technology business and continued integrating it into the group.

    Source

  • 2003

    Sell the aerospace divisionStrategy

    Background

    Dräger operated across several technical fields but increasingly emphasized medical and safety technology as its core identity.

    Action taken

    Dräger sold its aerospace division to Cobham plc.

    Aftermath

    The transaction sharpened the group’s focus on its two principal divisions and reduced exposure to a non-core business.

    Source

Recent events

  • Reported

    Dräger wins 2020 AFP Pinnacle Grand Prize[9]

    Dräger won the Association for Financial Professionals 2020 Pinnacle Grand Prize for excellence in treasury and finance. The award was presented during the AFP 2020 Virtual Experience.

Read more

Sources9 sources

  1. 1Dräger (company)en.wikipedia.org
  2. 2Our history—our timelinedraeger.com
  3. 3Dräger Executive Boarddraeger.com
  4. 4Annual Financial Statements 2024 of the Dräger Groupdraeger.com
  5. 5Dräger Annual Report 2025draeger.com
  6. 6Takeover of the Dräger MSI measurement technology division by the REMS Grouprems.de
  7. 7Technology for Life — Dräger USdraeger.com
  8. 8The History of Drägerdraeger.com
  9. 9德尔格获得2020年AFP Pinnacle大奖prnewswire.com

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