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Plastics disposable syringes, predominantly from
PP now have a new competitor. There is an increasing demand to develop
needleless syringes to prevent injuries due to needles and thus
achieve better safety.
This major market driver has led to several new
developments of drug injection systems using engineering polymers
like Polycarbonate, Acetal, Cyclic Olefins for the syringe body
parts and teflon for the piston parts. The engineering polymers
are preferred because of better strength and good sterlizability.
These new systems use either springs or compressed gas for direct
injection of drugs at the required depth of human skin. The clear
advantage of such a device, in addition to prevention of injury,
is that it can be discarded after its usage, since it does not pose
the problem of medical waste.
These new injection systems can have several variants.
The prefilled drug delivery systems that has already been launched
in Northern America would hasten the process of commercialization.
Resuable injection systems also have been developed. Infact, many
major pharmaceutical giants are likely to bring about these new
syringe systems very soon. It is therefore quite likely that by
2010, these new needleless drug injection systems would have almost
70% of disposbale drug injection systems. Polycarbonate, the most
preferred polymer in the present needleless syringes may have competition
from several new engineering polymers like TOPAS (cycloaliphatic
polymers).
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