Breaking the needle habit by using needle free delivery

Helping "Belenophobics" (people who fear needles): 16 billion needle injections are used every year costing US$5-6 billion. 1-2 persons in 10 is apprehensive of needles, and studies show a preference for alternatives to needle and syringe injections. While the experience with PharmaJet’s 0.5 ml device is anecdotal, many people experience no pain while others feel mild pressure or a pinch-like sensation. In all situations however, the strong fear of being poked by a needle is eliminated by the use of needle free.

"I am petrified of receiving needles, my philosophy as a nurse is "better to give than receive" and usually pass on the yearly flu shot because of my fear. After receiving the injection with the Pharmajet (needleless system) I would definitely receive vaccines in the future and would feel more comfortable in administering to "others" that I am not "hurting" them in the process of wellness and prevention." - Nurse, R.N. BSW. MS.

Avoiding needle stick injury: With needle free, healthcare workers are spared the occupational risk of being infected by blood borne pathogens through needle stick injuries. According to a study performed by Greystone Associates, "the risk of transmission from a needle-stick or other sharps injury, where an infected patient has contaminated the needle, is 1 in 3 workers for hepatitis B, 1 in 30 workers for hepatitis C, and 1 in 300 workers for HIV". 62% of needle stick occurs after use and during or after disposal. In the US alone needle stick injuries exceed 600,000 annually, costing an estimated US$2 billion in follow on care.

Reducing needle reuse: The World Health Organization estimates that 50% of needle-syringe injections are unsafe, and that 21 million people contract hepatitis, HIV, and other diseases each year because of this practice. There are examples in every country of needle re-use, including in well funded healthcare environments. Auto-disabled syringes are reducing this risk. Once used, the PharmaJet syringe is also auto-disabled and cannot be re-used.

No sharps disposal: Disposal of sharp medical waste requires costly sharps disposal services. PharmaJet's needle less syringe can be disposed in the same way a used bandage is disposed - thus making it simple and inexpensive.

0.5 ml fixed dose delivery for IM and SC

Ask your health care provider if PharmaJet's device is the right delivery approach for you. It delivers a fixed 0.5 ml liquid dose to the IM and SC depth. This is the standard dose for most childhood vaccines, travelers' vaccines, seasonal flu vaccines, pandemic flu, young adult vaccines etc., and some therapeutics:

Vaccines

There are 24 vaccine preventable diseases in the world, with children receiving slightly more than half, and adults the balance of all vaccinations. In some cases, booster shots for various vaccines are needed throughout a person's life-time. In other cases, vaccines are offered for special purposes:

Childhood vaccines: While it depends on the country, children receive 5-13 different vaccines. The most common injected vaccines include: inactivated polio, MMR (mumps, measles, rubella), tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough, etc. Increasingly common, children are also receiving vaccines for chicken pox, influenza, hepatitis B., meningitis, and more.

Travelers' vaccines: hepatitis A, yellow fever, etc.
Seasonal vaccines: flu, pandemic flu
Adult vaccines: cervical cancer, pneumococcal, meningitis, rabies, etc.

Therapeutics

Many therapeutics are injected IM or SC in 0.5 ml volumes. Ask your doctor. A few are approved in 0.5 ml volumes and are often administered at home:

Migraines: Sumatriptan
Infertility and other treatment hormones: FSH, LH, hCG

0.1 ml fixed dose delivery for Intra-dermal (ID) delivery

PharmaJet's ID device is being prepared for FDA marketing clearance and CE marking. Applications for such a device when cleared for use in clinical studies and marketing are numerous.

Pandemic flu vaccines: With needle-free delivery of the vaccine into the skin (intra-dermal area), for some vaccines like flu and rabies, for example, it is possible to vaccinate five times as many people with the same amount of vaccine as is possible with standard intramuscular (IM) injection by needle and syringe (N&S).

Several clinical studies of licensed seasonal flu vaccines published in peer-reviewed journals have proven that 1/5th of the standard dose of vaccines (meaning 0.1 ml delivered ID) results in seroconversion equal to a full-dose 0.5 ml standard IM injection.

The main reasons that reduced-dose ID approaches have not been adopted widely so far are that ID injection with N&S requires specialized training of vaccination staff. However, ID delivery with PharmaJet's new generation of needle-free disposable syringe jet injectors (DSJI) will be easy and requires minimal training.

Needle-free ID devices could help alleviate vaccine shortages. By reducing the volume of vaccine manufactured and the number of prefilled vials needed to be stored in inventory before becoming outdated, it could be possible to reduce the cost of stockpiling and cold storage.

Other intradermal vaccines: Rabies, inactivated polio, yellow fever, hepatitis A and other vaccines have been shown to be effective in an intra-dermal reduced dose delivery, according to published clinical trials. Unlike other ID delivery technologies such as patches, micro-needles or solid dose formulations that require extensive reformulation and regulatory clearances. PharmaJet users can use standard off-the-shelf licensed vaccines in single or multi-dose liquid vials, with no reformulation required (when PharmaJet is granted marketing clearance).

Other applications: Needleless ID delivery could be used for tuberculin and allergy testing, and for delivery to other places in the body such as the scalp where 0.05 to 0.1 ml of medicine have to be carefully injected into the skin.