Medical Design Briefs - August 2024 - 16

How Advanced
Drug-Delivery Systems
Are Improving Healthcare
T
he administration of highdose
biologics presents
unique challenges and opportunities
for the development
of drug-delivery
systems. With the advent of innovative
reusable drug-delivery devices,
the landscape of patient adherence
and comfort is evolving significantly.
These advanced devices are designed
to handle higher concentrations
and viscosities of therapeutic
drugs, allowing for new routes of administration
that can be managed by
Bjarne Sørensen, Director of FrontEnd
Innovation, Phillips Medisize
patients themselves at home. In this Q&A, Bjarne Sørensen, director
of front-end innovation for Phillips Medisize, explores how
these technological advancements are transforming the administration
of biologics, while also focusing on patient adherence, cost
savings, and overall improvements in healthcare delivery.
MDB: How are innovative reusable drug-delivery device solutions
contributing to enhanced patient adherence and comfort
in the administration of high-dose biologics?
Bjarne Sørensen: New possibilities within formulations and
suspensions, implementing significantly higher concentrations
of therapeutic drug load, open new routes of administration for
biologics. When developing high-dose formulations, it is important
to consider the required flexibility from the possible
device solutions and determine the restrictions they impose on
formulation development.
The new possibility of reusable electromechanical devices can
enable the patient to self-administer injections with challenging
parameters such as high viscosity or higher injection volumes,
without any compromises on usability. The possible addition of
a connected system can add potential adherence support options
to the complete system.
MDB: Can you discuss the potential cost savings that highdose
formulations in biologics and their associated delivery devices
bring to the healthcare industry, particularly in terms of
reduced administration frequency and resource utilization?
Sørensen: The possibility of moving IV treatments from hospitals
or infusion clinics to home subcutaneous (SC) administration by
the patients will not only provide a substantial cost saving for healthcare
systems and payers, but very importantly also potentially improve
the quality of life for patients. The potential of increasing the
time between doses is an added benefit impacting cost of care.
16
MDB: How do high-dose formulations in biologics help in
reducing the frequency of administration, and what benefits
does this bring to patients and healthcare providers?
Sørensen: New high-dose formulation technologies can, beyond
the transition from IV to subcutaneous, also be a potential
opportunity for long-acting formulations. These technologies
can potentially extend the time between doses, and then
additionally reduce the negative impact on the patients. This
opportunity will naturally increase the previously mentioned
benefits for all the involved.
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Medical Design Briefs, August 2024
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Medical Design Briefs - August 2024

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