Unilife aims prefilled syringes at patients who self-inject

Last week, we mentioned Unilife, a York, PA-based developer of drug-delivery systems, is aiming its safety syringes at the market for healthcare workers increasingly concerned about needle-stick injuries. This week, Unilife announced its new line of auto-injectors are meant for the rising numbers of patients who inject themselves outside a healthcare setting.

Driving this market is the "development and commercial launch of biologics, biosimilar and other drugs suitable for patient self-injection as well as the enforcement of laws in the U.S., Europe and other emerging markets seeking to prevent needlestick injuries," according to a company statement.

Unilife says that its auto-injectors "enable patients to inject a fixed dose of medication with the simple push of a button, without ever seeing the needle."

"Conventional auto-injector technologies can cause some confusion among patients, as it can be difficult to determine just when the full dose has been delivered," Unilife CEO Alan Shortall said in a statement. "For Unifill Auto-Injectors, once a patient hears the audible-tactile indication signaling the activation of the safety mechanism, they know the dose has been fully administered and the device can be safely taken away from the body."

- read the release from Unilife