Needle-Free Drug Delivery Devices

OREANDA-NEWS. Pills and potions are widely accepted methods of drug delivery in modern day medicine. However, there is an immense change seen in this trend with specialized delivery devices being preferred over the traditionally utilized methods. These specialized delivery devices present safer, more effective methods of administering medication. Fuelled by an increasing demand for pain-free delivery and faster acting drugs, the drug delivery market is now headed towards a phase of utilizing needle-free injection systems. The rising transmission of chronic diseases such as dengue fever, hepatitis viruses, and AIDS and neurological diseases is predicted to stimulate the growth of needle-free drug delivery devices market. As per the WHO, in 2014, the diseases transmitted through the utilization of injections have soared by 20.0% globally, thus propelling the clinical urgency of developing needle-free drug delivery devices. 

 

Transparency Market Research (TMR), a market intelligence company provides a bird’s eye view of the market for needle-free drug delivery devices and provides answers to relevant questions for providing a better understanding of the market. 

 

Needle-free injection systems utilize a liquid drug delivery technology designed to work with drug formulations already available on the market. This helps in reducing the development costs and expedites the development cycles of these products. A number of challenges posed by the traditionally utilized delivery methods have been addressed by utilizing needle-free injection systems. These include reducing the risk of infections, overcoming the aversion of patients towards needles, ease of use, painless delivery of drugs, and formulations made for gradually releasing injected drugs, hence lowering the frequency of injections. In addition, the risk of injuries from broken needles is nil. An enhancement in the consistency of drug delivery is also amongst the key advantage of using needle-free drug delivery devices. 

 

Although, the competing needle-free technology led the market in 2014, it has been predicted that jet injectors will exhibit a higher growth rate in the coming years. This is owing to the increasing occurrence of needle-stick injuries globally and the increasing proliferation of high performance cutting-edge products in this segment. For example, PharmaJet Stratis, a product of Pharmajet, delivers an influenza vaccine in a time duration of 1/10th of a second.  

 

TMR predicts the transdermal patch technology segment to exhibit the fastest growth rate in the forecast horizon. This is owing to the controlled drug delivery, ease of usage, and the increasing adoption of transdermal patches among patients having diabetes.

 

 

The future of needle-free drug delivery devices seems bright owing to the increasing preference for painless delivery of medication and the rising requirement for preventing needle stick injuries. The market will be dynamic owing to the vast array of technologically advanced products from in the pipeline of numerous leading companies. Chances of more consolidations are also high. For instance, not long ago, MannKind Corporation developed an inhalable insulin drug called AFREZZA. This drug is a rapidly acting inhaled insulin therapy utilized for improving glycemic control in patients having diabetes. Hence, similar product innovations will further boost the growth of the market for needle-free drug delivery devices.