Driving drug delivery with Becton Dickinson

Med-Tech Innovation editor Ian Bolland speaks to Lionel Maritan, associate director – research and development Becton Dickinson (BD), about the company’s Intevia 2.25ml autoinjector which is set to launch at the end of 2021 or the start of 2022.

Maritan begins by explaining that the new product is still in its development phase and will be dedicated to injecting drugs at a higher volume compared to previous devices the company has launched.

The 2.25ml disposable autoinjector is a combination product designed to deliver a range of viscous drugs for patients suffering from chronic diseases. Since chronic disease patients undergoing biologics treatments often need to inject frequently, the device has been designed for home use and to be easy to hold. Used with pre-fillable syringes, Intevia works through a two-step process, with the patient first placing the autoinjector on their skin before pressing a button once to deliver the prescribed dose.

Though designed for home use, it has had the input of healthcare professionals during human factor studies whilst being tested on patients with chronic illnesses.

BD hopes its new autoinjector will be able to provide less painful delivery of any dosage but Maritan admits that delivery has to be considered in combination with the drug itself when it comes to pain level.

“What we are doing, in fact, is trying to establish specific requirements when we launch this new development to keep reasonable injection, so not too fast and not too long as well, and to find the best compromise between flow rate but also the injection time when you are using an autoinjector.

“We are combining these two limits, and have tried to design between them, to keep a good compromise between the pain and the ability for a patient to inject themselves in a reasonable time.”

Designing a new autoinjector does come with its challenges as Maritan explains it is a case of replacing manual steps by automatic means, and given the higher volume of medication carried within this autoinjector, the challenges can be seen as greater compared to the existing products that BD has in smaller volumes.

Comparing it to a 1ml autoinjector, Maritan explained how “the challenges are much higher because you want to inject two times the volume.”

More so, development challenges are presented by the need for the company to afford a broad range of drug viscosities that are accessible with its autoinjector technology. 

“Your design is at the limits and you need to find the right combination of component subsistence to maximise the performance without compromising the basic functions.

“If you need to inject higher volumes at higher viscosity you need more power force. The higher the power, the higher the challenges are and the side-effects you need to manage at the system level.

“For the technical challenges we are putting more constraints on the autoinjector and you have to manage all these constraints by finding the right technical solutions and by selecting the right components.

“With an autoinjector you integrate a preferable syringe, you integrate stoppers, so you integrate a lot of well-known components not only used in autoinjectors, but used in other systems, and you need also to select the right components to ensure the system functions.”

There are many things to take into consideration when it comes to opting for specific parts and the materials used to assemble them to form the injector, including the barrel and the stopper.

Maritan explains that any plastic parts will be produced with moulding technology, a barrel will be produced using a specific forming process, and stoppers are produced via a specific forming process.

“We have to specify to make sure these components are correctly manufactured at the right quality level and with the right specification.

“We have a lot of knowledge and management of all the components and sub-systems that are part of the autoinjector. Not only the autoinjector components but the syringe plus the stopper, so we are managing all the components. We are specifying all of the components to be sure that the system will operate as it should do in the end with patients.”