PATIENT SAFETY
devices, such as pre-filled safety syringes for subcutaneous delivery, are becoming a key tool. A variety of issues are likely to continue to further drive up this shift to home and self-care – increasing the need for adequate measures and devices. For instance, populations in the Western world are ageing as a consequence of higher life expectancy. As a result, populations are presenting a higher number of people suffering from morbidities8
such as diabetes
or rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, Chrohn’s disease, cancer and many others. With an increasing number of older people to treat, national healthcare systems are finding that their already stretched staff numbers need to be supported by encouraging self- administration of therapies wherever patients are able to carry them out. It is simply not cost effective to treat this growing number of patients within a clinical setting.
Biological drug therapies
Another interesting driver for self- administration via prefilled syringes is the new wave of biological drug therapies entering the market. These therapies are often those that provide best outcomes for patients suffering from chronic conditions, such as neurological, cardio-vascular and auto-immune diseases. Typically, biologics and biosimilars are administered via subcutaneous injection – due to their larger molecular size – and require regular dosage, making it impractical to continue visiting a clinic – or indeed to call out a nurse for each injection. Self-administration not only empowers the patient and encourages them to be more compliant with their medication regime, but significantly reduces the burden on the healthcare system.
As a number of original biologics come out of patent protection, a host of new drugs are entering a newly competitive market reducing cost to patients and encouraging self-administration. Specifically, between
2018 and 2020 a significant number of original biologics are coming off patent protection, opening up the market to biosimilar competitors.9
Biological drugs can
carry very specific requirements on accuracy of dosage which explains the popularity of pre-filled syringes as delivery devices for these types of drugs, especially in a home care or self-administration setting where there is no professional presiding. Older patients and the very infirm will also tend to be less dexterous and could struggle with accurate dosage, making pre- filled devices all the more appealing when encouraging this demographic to self- administer. Similarly, low dexterity also dictates that devices for self-administration should be easy to use, requiring minimal force to activate and passive safety mechanisms to reduce additional activation steps; patients with severe rheumatoid
arthritis could experience crippling pain in trying to activate more complex mechanisms for example. As a result, the global demand for self-administration pre-fills is also leaning significantly towards devices that are easy to hold and operate such as auto-injectors.
Pre-filled devices
Finally, another additional factor driving the increase in pre-filled devices in the US and Europe is an increase in pressure from health authorities carrying out closer scrutiny on medication administration further to medication error scandals10
reported in the
national press. Pre-filled syringes could help ensure that the correct drug is delivered, accurately and in the appropriate dose significantly reducing the risk of medical errors. Another factor relates to time-saving potential: prefilled devices and syringes can help overburdened healthcare staff deliver
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