Proprietary system improves delivery of dry powder drugs

US-based West Pharmaceutical Services has introduced Clip'n'Ject, a proprietary and novel system for improving the reconstitution and delivery of lyophilised or dry-powder drugs and the increasing number of new injectable products developed from complex biotechnological processes. Many of these drugs are expensive and are increasingly administered at home by family carers or the patients themselves. The Clip'n'Ject system may be less cumbersome, require fewer steps and reduce the need for drug over-fills, when compared with conventional reconstitution methods, the company believes.

'The system reduces the complexity of reconstituting lyophilised drugs because it is packaged as a complete set that requires fewer steps,' said Bill O'Dell, vice president global marketing at West Pharmaceutical Services. The system adds safety through its self-contained construction that prevents exposure to unintended spray-back of drug product, while its precision eliminates the manufacturer's need to provide overfills of extremely expensive therapies, he added.

The Clip'n'Ject system consists of a plastic connector that links a prefilled diluent syringe with a standard drug vial. The diluent syringe is available in 1ml, 3ml or 5ml fill sizes. West Pharmaceutical Services provides the product in a single thermoformedformed tray secured with a Tyvek lid. The sealed Clip'n'Ject is terminally sterilised by ethylene oxide. Functional testing and scaled-up manufacturing, assembly and packaging will take place in West's ISO-certified site in Montgomery, Pennsylvania. The Clip'n'Ject system is licensed from a Swiss medical device company.