Pro-Ject™ was launched in early Nov. at the PDA Europe conference in Basel, Switzerland by Aptar Pharma.
Pro-Ject™ is a novel auto-injector that has been designed and developed with input from patients and healthcare professionals in order to provide optimal patient convenience and compliance.
This device integrates all the user-preferred features that were identified during user studies. Its design and development benefit from Aptar Pharma’s experience of a Quality-by-Design approach, which translates into robust design, successful manufacturing scale-up, and fast-track to market.
Pro-Ject is a state-of–the-art disposable auto-injector technology platform designed around a standard glass prefilled syringe. Two simple handling operations, a large and clearly visible control window, and multiple safety and patient compliance features are among the device’s patient-friendly attributes.
It also has unique visual and acoustic feedback for needle insertion and end of injection that allows for strong product differentiation.
Pro-Ject is small and lightweight, providing benefits for transport, storage, and environmental footprint. Its unique design allows easy adaptation to specific therapy needs, with the core technology providing design freedom to optimize the user interface.
A look at the injectable drugs market
It is estimated that the global market for injectable drugs is worth US$ 240 billion, giving it a 28% share of the overall drug market worldwide. The injectable drugs market experienced a 4% growth rate in 2012.
The pharma industry has a strong injectable R&D pipeline, with more than 3,500 projects for new drugs, the main portion of it being for generics.
The majority of injectable drugs have been developed for use by healthcare professionals in hospitals and local medical care centers to deliver injections and infusions with syringes or infusion lines and needles. Auto-injectors are designed for self-injection in a non-medical environment, for example at home, without the presence of healthcare professionals being required.
Auto-injectors are spring-loaded devices holding a prefilled syringe (the primary drug container). They are easy-to-use by design and intended for automatic self-administration of a fixed dose of medication by the patient.
The auto-injector market is a small niche of the injectable drug market, as these devices are used in the treatment of selected chronic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, spondilarthritis, multiple sclerosis, hepatitis C, anemia, and emergency/crisis treatments such as anaphylactic shock and migraine attacks.
This niche device market was worth US$ 130 million in 2012 and has a strong annual growth rate of 20%.
Aptar Pharma’s traditional core business has been the innovative design, development, and manufacture of non-invasive spray and aerosol drug delivery devices. Involved in the pharma spray and aerosol market, the company manufactures more than one billion proprietary devices each year in facilities located in Asia, EU, Latin America, and North America. These devices are regulated as combination drug products.
Aptar Pharma has recently reoriented its strategy to increase its market presence in the large and fast-growing biopharmaceutical market where injectable devices are the gold standard dosage forms.
In November 2011, AptarGroup sealed a strategic partnership with Oval Medical, a cutting-edge parenteral technology company based in Cambridge, UK.
In June 2012, AptarGroup acquired the French company Stelmi (now rebranded as Aptar Stelmi), a world-leading supplier of premium quality elastomeric closures for parenteral primary packaging.
