Consort Medical (LON:CSRT) subsidiary Bespak’s global business development lead, Steven Kaufman, told the audience at PODD that his company believes strongly that auto-injectors have an important role to play in the delivery of biologics.
“Gone are the days that the auto-injector is only going to be for emergency use. We’re starting to see whole new patient groups, patients that have cholesterol issues, patients that have issues with asthma that are now going to be required to be using an auto-injector,” Kaufman said.
But he also pointed to an older study that showed that just 22% of patients using an intra-muscular auto-injector were using the device as properly instructed.
“If that number is to be believed, it’s a shocking number and what we have to do better is work with experts to make our devices more intuitive and more effective for each of these new patient groups that we’re targeting,” Kaufman added.
Bespak is working to develop auto-injectors that can handle a 1 mL of 2.25 mL volume in the same device and that work reflects a larger trend in the industry, he explained.
“What we’re talking about more and more now is not just viscosity, we’re talking about having the ability to use one auto-injector for different fill volumes and different primary containers,” Kaufman said. “So we’re seeing more clients who are talking to us about establishing this type of platform approach.”
One example of a platform technology that the company has developed is its Syrina portfolio of syringes and auto-injectors. Kaufman described Bespak’s Syrina S auto-injector as the smallest 2.25 mL auto-injector with a standard primary container on the market. That product can also hold a 1 mL pre-filled syringe, Kaufman said.
