Needle-free drug delivery system takes sting out of vaccinations
Canadian Plastics
Screaming children, needle-phobic adults and contaminated syringes are problems that have longed plagued healthcare providers tasked with administering shots to their patients....
Screaming children, needle-phobic adults and contaminated syringes are problems that have longed plagued healthcare providers tasked with administering shots to their patients.
Now, with Bioject Medical Technologies Inc.’s needle-free Biojector 2000 drug dispenser — made from two thermoplastic resins from GE Plastics — they have another option.
Portland, Ore.-based Bioject chose GE’s Lexan polycarbonate (PC) for the dispenser’s main component, the injector, because of its transparency, high-impact strength and durability. GE’s Cicoloy resin, a blend of PC and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene terpolymer (ABS), offers excellent chemical resistance to the fluids in the syringe, Bioject said.
It only takes the Biojector a fraction of a second to deliver up to 1.3 millilitres (ml) of medication through a micro-orifice of the skin. Compressed carbon dioxide is used to eject the medication from the syringe. Afterwards, the needle-free syringe is discarded.
GE Plastics Canada (Mississauga, Ont.)
www.gestructuredproducts.com; 800-323-3783
