In collaboration with their customer, Ascendis Pharma, Phillips-Medisize recently received a third prestigious industry award for the SKYTROFA Auto-Injector. The award recognises the drug delivery device's exceptional design and positive impact. This first-of-its-kind product enables convenient and efficient preparation and delivery of SKYTROFA—a vital growth hormone treatment for children.
The design award was presented during the Red Dot Design Awards on June 19 in Essen, Germany. “The product features excellent ease of use and optics, as well as very convenient and safe process control with reduced pharmaceutical waste,” the Red Dot jury stated.
Traditionally, children requiring growth hormone treatments endured daily injections that often led to nonadherence to therapy, due to pain and/or bruising with injection as well as fear of needles. The introduction of SKYTROFA reduced the frequency of injections to just once a week, while using a discreet, thin needle.
The breakthrough technology behind the Auto-Injector represents a significant advance in usability that enhances the quality of life and safety for the young patient and their families. SKYTROFA is a lyophilised powder available in a single-dose, dual-chamber, prefilled cartridge containing lonapegsomatropin-tcgd in one chamber and water in the other.
The cartridge is designed for subcutaneous injection once a week with the Auto-Injector. The Auto-Injector provides a fully automated reconstitution of the lyophilized drug product, followed by a manual mixing step controlled by the device. The device automatically delivers the drug product after inserting the injection needle into the skin.
Built-in electronics and software assist the user during the entire preparation and injection sequence and confirm that the full dosage is delivered. The device is reusable and rechargeable. It eliminates the waste of disposable injector pens and batteries with a full charge lasting four weeks, with one weekly injection. The life of the Auto-Injector is approximately four years or 210 injections.