Choking is the fourth leading cause of accidental deaths in the United States with over 5,000 occurrences happening every year. LifeVac is a product that was made to aid in the clearing of airways during a choking emergency and has resulted in the saving of over 5,700 lives since it launched in 2014. As of March 6, 2026, the FDA granted DeNovo authorization to LifeVac, making it the first and only authorized suction anti-choking device (SACD) in the U.S. It is classified as a Class II medical device, specifically intended for use as a second-line treatment after standard Basic Life Support (BLS) protocols have failed. Arthur Lih, Inventor/Founder and CEO of LifeVac, spoke with Curtis Sliwa and Larry Mendte about how and why he was able to get FDA approval for his product.
“As we grew in popularity, and people knew about it, then knock offs came in; so the FDA said wait a second we got to fix this,” Lih told hosts Sliwa and Mendte. “They created a whole new category; we’re the first and only anti-choking device that’s FDA-approved.”
Lih talked about one of the goals for his product moving forward: “We’ve been in schools, we’ve donated over 10,000 [LifeVacs]; the state of Texas has a law, that it has to be in every school, New York just passed legislation that it has to be in every school… that’s the mission [because] we lose 6 to 7 kids every year in school.”