The Multi-particulate Delivery System Sympfiny

For the design of Sympfiny, a multi-particulate medicine delivery system for children the company HS Design was subsidized with 50000 $.

 

Every parent knows that administering medicine to children can be very difficult. The main problem is the awful taste of most medicine. In order to solve the taste problem HS Design offers a high-tech solution with its Sympfiny Design.

 

The Sympfiny multi-particulate drug system, delivers medicine not in liquid form but as solid coated microspheres, dissolving in the stomach. In this manner children do not having to deal with the bad taste. The solid drug form offers other problems however. The drug particles can stick together when damp or static, or when being dry some part of the particles can escape through small openings in a pack or satchel. This can lead to inaccurate dose delivery.

 

Using the same technique for multi-particulate dry powder as for liquid oral medicine, Sympfiny is the new drug-delivery solution. According to Michael Quinn, director of engineering at HS Design, the design of the Sympfiny device is based on the ‘syringe and bottle’ format. The protective bottle stores the multi-particles and the syringe is for dosing.

 

Solid multi-particulate drugs are also more easy to deliver to children in rural or remote settings in developing countries. The multi-particulate formulation makes medication more easy to store and no water is required for administering the drugs.

 

After Pfizer and the Institute for Pediatric Innovation worked together in creating the new solid drug formulation technology, it required a different drug delivery system to ensure accurate dosing. The Sympfiny dispensing device was designed ensuring usability, accuracy, and protection of the drug.

 

At BIOMEDevice Boston, the largest medtech event in New England, the delivery device was selected as one of two winners by Innovation Prize Tour participants. During an open challenge from the Institute of Pediatric Innovation and Pfizer the HS dispensing device design won a $ 50,000 grant.