Drug delivery


Paul Greenhalgh, director of design at Team, has a wealth of experience in developing these devices. He has worked in the industry for almost 20 years, which included working on an organ transplant system and a surgical haemostat delivery device. More recently, Greenhalgh has participated in projects such as point- of-care diagnostic systems, wearables and an ever- increasing number of connected drug delivery devices. For Greenhalgh, keeping the end goal top-of-mind is fundamental to success. “My involvement has ranged from programme management and strategic decision support at the front end, through to directing design,” says Greenhalgh. “But, no matter the individual project – or my personal role – our focus is always on delivering a product that meets the demands of the market and provides an optimal user experience.”


Designed for the patient


One of the central principles guiding Greenhalgh’s work is design thinking. “We are not designing products to increase shelf appeal or introducing new features to justify a price hike,” explains Greenhalgh. “The products we develop are designed to meet a real need – to help people better manage their heath conditions, or make it easier for a healthcare professional to do their job.”


There are several important ways that design thinking plays into this. “Design thinking methodology encourages a stage of gaining empathy with your stakeholders and identifying the key design challenges at the start of a project,” says Greenhalgh. “When designing medical devices, you’re often creating them for people with a very different set of circumstances to you, people who face real challenges in managing their health that you or I wouldn’t consider. Because of this, it’s imperative that we dedicate time to consider the needs of those who will use the product before we move into ideation.”


This concept also influences the way that the device is developed, by focusing on collaboration. “Very few of the briefs we receive can be undertaken without the combined skills of a broad team,” says Greenhalgh. “You need to pull together people who think differently and specialise in the parts of the development process, for example, front-end innovation or industrialisation.” The third element of design thinking is an emphasis on experimentation. “Most of what we do follows an iterative approach of design, prototype and test,” explains Greenhalgh. “Unlike the consumer world, we don’t have the luxury of launching an experimental product in the market to learn what consumers want or need.”


This demands a lot of groundwork to ensure that the product will be a success. “We have to spin some pretty rapid iterations to ensure we’ve optimised usability, design for manufacture and user experience


Packaging Insight / www.worldpharmaceuticals.net


before a project is ready for launch,” says Greenhalgh. “Humans are very difficult to predict. It’s not until you have something in the hands of a person that you really start to understand how they will behave.”


A popular combination


There is a wide range of drug-device combination products on the market and in development but some are particularly popular, such as connected devices. “The industry is very quickly looking to technology for ways to promote adherence and in turn improve healthcare outcomes,” explains Greenhalgh. “Connected devices and digital solutions have the potential to provide better data on what really goes on when people use devices ‘in the wild’.” This is not just about producing clever sensing devices. “To capitalise on the investment in smart devices – and the infrastructure needed to support them – we need to share data, knowledge of user experience design, analytics and behavioural science,” says Greenhalgh. “We’ll also need to focus on what will encourage users to adopt this new technology and feel comfortable to share their data.”


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Paul Greenhalgh (above) has been involved in a number of projects that focus on wearable devices and drug delivery devices.


Team


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