Injection Devices
DRUG DEVELOPMENT - To De-Risk Patient Acceptance of Biologic Drugs, Focus Early on Delivery
Jeannie Joughin, PhD, asks what does a pharmaceutical company do when everyone wants more effective new therapies but no one – including third-party payers – wants to pay the price for their development? De-risk the drug development process, in every possible way.
2017 GLOBAL DRUG DELIVERY & FORMULATION REPORT - Notable Technologies, Approvals, Transactions, Pipelines & Perspectives
This third annual report, a collaborative effort between team members at Drug Development & Delivery and PharmaCircle, provides a look back at 2016 in terms of approvals and developments in the area of drug delivery and formulation. The report continues to cover the following significant key points of interest, with the belief that understanding the past, even the recent past, can provide insights to what is possible.
CONTRACT MANUFACTURING - Delivering Market Success & ROI to Pharmaceutical Partners
Mike Schaefers, PhD, and Mike Treadaway say more than ever, contract manufacturing must deliver continuous innovation and flexibility to accommodate the delivery of a wide range of drugs throughout each therapy’s lifecycle.
MDI CHARACTERIZATION - Closing the Gap Between In Vitro Test Data & the In-Use Performance for Metered Dose Inhalers
David A. Lewis, PhD, presents experimental data that shows how certain modifications to the Pharmacopoeial test methods used for MDIs may result in data that is more indicative of real-life performance, providing insight that can be used to enhance drug delivery characteristics.
THERAPEUTIC FOCUS - A New Patented Device for Treating Obstructive Sleep Apnea & Snoring
Bob Wieden presents a device he believes addresses the underlying anatomic and physiologic etiology of snoring and OSA in a simple but inventive way, and if developed, has the ability to increase patient compliance by reducing the use of CPAP machines, by making a sufferer’s life more comfortable, while preventing many of the contributing diseases.
NEEDLE-FREE INJECTION - Portal PRIME: A Digitally Controlled, Cloud-Integrated Jet Injection System
Patrick Anquetil, PhD, and Gaspar Taroncher-Oldenburg, PhD, report on Portal PRIME, a needle-free and digitally controlled jet injection device that is breaking new ground for injectable drug delivery.
SPECIAL FEATURE - Prefilled Syringes & Parenteral Manufacturing: A Rise in Biologics & Improved Technology Give Pharma Reasons to Consider Parenteral Delivery
Contributor Cindy H. Dubin speaks with some of the leading companies in this market to find out about key trends, packaging advancements, safety improvements, and technology developments.
MARKET BRIEF - Preferences for Targeted Therapies & Patient-Centric Approaches Drive Transformations in Oncology Drug Delivery Market
Frost & Sullivan Analyst Piyush Bansal says although chemotherapy has been successfully used for inhibiting cell growth throughout the past few decades, the side effects of chemotherapy have forced researchers to look for some alternative drugs (and how to effectively deliver them) for all types of cancer.
COMBINATION CORNER - Keys to Avoiding Common Pitfalls in the Development of Product Requirements for Drug Combination Products
Jerzy Wojcik says it is more important than ever to bring the right team together early in a project to capture product requirements correctly. The cost of missing needs or requirements goes up exponentially as development proceeds, and many of these requirements can be identified early in the project if the right individuals are at the table.
ADVANCED DELIVERY DEVICES - Disruptive Delivery Technology Partnerships Are Key to Pharmaceutical Life Cycle Management
Michael D. Hooven, MSME, believes in the challenge to deliver innovative therapies that address unmet patient needs while delivering profitable growth, and the industry is responding by embracing disruptive technology that can concurrently help on both fronts and also speed time to market for pharmaceutical products and services.
BIODEGRADABLE FIBERS - Enabling Controlled Pharmaceutical & Biologic Delivery for Next-Generation Medical Applications
Kevin Nelson, PhD, discusses how wet-extruded fiber eliminates the traditional limitations of pharmaceuticals and biologics that may be incorporated into implantable medical devices with melt extrusion or electrospun fibers, microspheres, or nanoparticles.
COMBINATION PRODUCTS - 6 Guidelines to Follow When Developing Combination Products
Winston Brown explains how companies can reduce the risk and impact that regulatory uncertainty can play by, in advance of pursuing development, understanding the regulatory landscape and then developing a regulatory compliance strategy that is appropriate and suitable for the combination product as a system.
EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW - Insulet Corporation: Improving Adherence Through Wearable, Patient-Centric Drug Delivery
Michael Graffeo, Vice President of Business Development, Insulet Delivery Systems Group, discusses the importance of optimizing patient adherence to ensure improved clinical outcomes.
COMBINATION PRODUCTS - Device Development for Pharmaceutical & Biologic Combination Products
Bill Welch says when developing a combination product, there are many things to be considered – relationships between device development and the pharmaceutical or biologic, early establishment of regulatory and clinical strategies, understanding user needs, determining product requirements, as well as device manufacturing variation.
ADVANCED DELIVERY DEVICES - Sophisticated Connected Wearables: Boosting Biologics’ Compliance, Value & Patient Satisfaction
Michael D. Hooven, MSME, says the new, most advanced wearable large-volume injectors available now for clinical trials and commercial application are designed to address the challenges of formulating biologics, delivery complexity, patient compliance, and cost.
DEVICE STUDY - The Intuitiveness, Ergonomics & Usability of the Credence Companion® Safety Syringe: A Formative Study
John A. Merhige, MEM, and Lisa Caparra, RN, present an informative human factors study to evaluate and assess the intuitiveness, ergonomics, and usability of the Credence Companion® Staked Safety Syringe.
TRAINING DEVICES - Best Practices & Considerations in Developing Effective Training Devices for Injectable Healthcare Markets
Joe Reynolds says training devices are often used to create consistent onboarding experiences for patients through the use of novel technologies and mechanisms that fully simulate the mechanical aspects of the injection experience. And while these devices appear to be fairly simple at first glance, numerous design and engineering challenges must be addressed.
SPECIAL FEATURE - Injectable Drug Delivery: Key Trends Define Device Design Now & in the Future
Contributor Cindy H. Dubin spoke with some of the world’s leading device developers about their current injection technologies and how their devices are addressing the current trends and opportunities in the industry.
COMBINATION CORNER - Keys to a Robust Combination Product Design Verification & Validation
Lilli Zakarija, MSME, MBA, explains that in order to conduct a successful V&V on the intended combination product, the key is to understand that the V&V testing is not an isolated activity and task.
COMBINATION CORNER - How to Approach OTS Devices for Your Combination Product
Lilli Zakarija, MSME, MBA, cautions that while OTS devices are already “developed” and on the market, they should still go through the device development design control process from the perspective of the combination product, and then let the design control process determine if the device meets the specific requirements of the CP.
What are Injection Devices?
Drug delivery devices are the physical agents that are included in the drug delivery system. There are a multitude of devices that people interact with every day which fall under this category. In modern pharmaceuticals, novel drug delivery devices and combination products are being designed for a number of reasons, including giving patients the ability to self-administer some medications at home, which can help them adhere to recommended regimens.
Evolution of Injection Devices
With modern technology and medicine, the combination product market is evolving. Any combination device, especially drug device combination devices, must follow strict guidelines. Thanks to advancements in engineering, an increasing number of drug delivery devices are being developed as electromechanical devices linked to apps in order to provide patients with more supervision when administering medications at home. Some of these medical apps may receive feedback from the device to track how much drug is being administered and how often, provide patients with dosing reminders and connect clinicians with this information so they can monitor patient compliance. The drug delivery devices that so many patients depend on must adhere to regulatory standards. There are strict guidelines for all methods of drug delivery, such as needle-based, aerosol, and needle-free injectors.
Smart devices, interconnectivity, and related technology provide real-time data to healthcare providers for analysis, but these device additions should not increase risks, including patient understanding of treatment delivery, or jeopardize compliance. Data collection needs to be “passive” to the patient. In other words, invisible to the patient’s use of the device so that the collected data provides a true benefit to the end user. If these design considerations can be implemented without impacting the patient or how they administer and receive treatment, then smart devices can provide advantages to the patient and the industry.
Injection Device Global Market Trends
The global injectable drug delivery devices market is expected to show significant growth in the coming years as manufacturers introduce technological advancements and product innovation meant to improve convenience, compliance, and ease of administration of parenterals. Additionally, the increasing preference for at-home self-injection is driving the market as patients prefer to continue to avoid healthcare settings post-COVID. With all of this taken into account, one market study predicts the global market to reach almost $26 billion by 2025, up from $15 billion in 2020. However, another report values the global market at $42.76 billion in 2021 and expects it to reach $50.9 billion in 2025.
How the numbers will play out is yet to be determined, but the studies do highlight the focus on single-use and reusable systems. Disposable-use prefilled syringes (PFS) are increasingly used due to the prevalence of chronic diseases and the growing number of biologics best delivered by syringes. Single-use autoinjectors are also poised to experience increased demand, particularly with the growing pervasiveness of anaphylaxis disorders. Autoinjectors also provide a convenient alternative to manual syringe injections for subcutaneous administration.
Reusable Injection Devices
Pen injectors with prefilled cartridges have also proven to be a viable alternative to syringes. These injectors can perform hundreds of injections, with patients controlling the speed of delivery to minimize pain or discomfort during use.
Making injection devices partially reusable is a cost-saving strategy. Ideally, the device’s mechanism and/or electronics are the reusable parts of the system – as these are often the costliest – and the drug containers and needle are one-time use.
Another cost-saving strategy that several large pharmaceutical companies are deploying is to develop a device platform for multiple drug products in their portfolio. This allows them to spend resources on a single significant development program, for one optimal injection device, which then requires minimal customization for each sub-sequent product line.
Despite efforts to make better, safer, simpler injection devices, patient adherence is still a challenge associated with self-administration. This has resulted in the emergence of smart devices, such as wearable injectors, which share patient data with healthcare providers to ensure compliance. And while it is expected this sector will continue to grow, some industry insiders warn against making these devices too intrusive.