Chandigarh
19 August 2017
DIVYA AZAD
Safety in relation to injections and the hazardous bio-medical waste is a major global healthcare concern being directly responsible for spreading various dreadful diseases. WHO is waging a crusade against alarming menace of unsafe injections since long. In 2002, WHO reported upto 70% injections being given by reused syringes in developing world, causing 1.3 million deaths, loss of 26 million years of life worldwide and estimated increased medical costs $1 billion alone in USA annually. There is spike in new cases, particularly by Needle Stick Injury (NSI) upto 30% of hepatitis B, 41% of hepatitis C and 9% of HIV/AIDS. Increasing lifestyle diseases like diabetes, hormonal problems etc. have promoted steep growth of injections creating ever-growing piles of hazardous medical- waste posing serious health concerns. It has increased global disease-cum-healthcare burden.
The syringe industry including all major R&D institutions is seriously putting herculean efforts to design safe retractable syringe.
Bharati Rathore and her team has invented Safe Injection System-2020 which will save the lives of people all around the world. She discussed with World Wisdom News Editor about their invention in detail.
Invention:
Our disruptive invention provides a most effective, cheapest, safer, greener and ergonomic drug delivery method and device compatible to WHO’s guidelines. It consists of two variants of reusable injector and 18 variants of safely disposable drug-cartridge containing inbuilt piston and retractable needle along with a fixed dose of medicament, wherein needle retracts automatically within the empty cartridge after the injection process.
Neither of the two parts per se are syringe but constitute an efficient, simple and user-friendly auto-retractable
safety syringe, when both the parts are coupled together. The disposable drug cartridge, thus, constitutes a smart packaging material to pharmaceutical industry. The injector is provided with a LED indicator, which not only regulates and keeps vigil on the entire injection process but also illuminates the injection site in dark hours to conveniently facilitate the injection procedure. Besides, the injector may also be used to collect the fluids safely, when attached with the specially designed Fluid Collector.
The European Patent Office, while examining our International Patent Application (PCT/IB2016/051060
WO/2016/142799 A FLUID INJECTING SYSTEM WITH NEEDLE RETRACTION BY VACUUM has opined in following terms:
“The technical effect of these features is that the injector is reusable while the only parts to be discarded are the needle hub and the medicament cartridge. As a result a cheaper and friendlier to the environment system is achieved without an increased risk of needle injuries.”
Our invention provides a cheapest, greener, sustainable, more efficient, faster, ergonomic, versatile, sustainable and inclusive technology to effectively curb syringe-related problems by completely eliminating the syringe itself. It is compatible with WHO’s guidelines. It prevents needle-reuse, counterfeit drugs, illicit drug abuse, contamination, and wastage of expensive drugs; reduces 70-75% hazardous medical waste ultimately saving millions of lives & billions of dollars without creating any technological divide.
It will effectively reduce NSI almost to zero, which is a chief cause of all major dreadful diseases i,e. AID/HIV, Hepatitis B & C etc., to curb global disease & healthcare burden; democratize healthcare system making it
equally affordable and accessible to all; ensure fullest achievement of WHO’s initiatives to completely replace conventional syringes with safety syringes by 2020; meeting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by multi-fold benefits to healthcare system together with reducing Global Disease and Healthcare Burden and fighting grave challenges of healthcare sector’s contribution to Climate-Change negating carbon footprint of entire syringe industry to achieve the highest goal of securing a safe, healthy and dignified ‘Right to Life’ for all.
Status of Patent Application:
We had initially filed our Indian Patent Application (IN 645/DEL/2015) on 10.03.2015 and International Patent
Application (PCT/IB2016/051060) on 26.02.2016, which was published by WIPO on 15.09.2016 as WO/2016/142799. In Written Opinion of International Search Authority (ISA) our Patent Application has been found to contain two inventions:
Invention 1: A FLUID INJECTING SYSTEM WITH NEEDLE RETRACTION BY VACUUM
Invention 2: A FLUID COLLECTING SYSTEM WITH NEEDLE RETRACTION BY VACUUM
We shall be filing our national phase patent applications in various potential jurisdictions: IP-5 countries i.e. USA, Europe, China, Japan, South Korea and others namely Australia, Canada, Singapore, South Africa within the stipulated period of 30/31 months from the priority date i.e. 10.09.2017, to secure the patent and shall be zealously prosecuting our interests for both the inventions.
Futuristic Safe Injection System-2020 is versatile, sustainable, inclusive and strategic innovative solution to fulfil the aim of ‘Pharma Vision 2020’ to make India the global leader in pharmaceutical markets by becoming sole exporter of this breakthrough technology worldwide popularizing ‘Made in India’ generic injectable drugs worldwide.
It will also help in meeting Govt. of India’s commitment to phase out disposable syringes, Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Agreement on Climate-Change and global leadership to India for safety syringes by 2020 conferred by WHO.
Recognition of our invention:
Our invention has been listed on TOP 4th worldwide amongst ‘Top 10 Future Medical Technologies in 2020’.
It has been featured in ISIPS Newsletter of The International Sharps Injury Prevention Society (ISIPS:7th July, 2017).
It has been ranked TOP 2nd worldwide among 225 projects/inventions by achieving more than 32000 popular votes at ‘YouForG20: Project of an Interconnected World’, an initiative by Deutschland on the occasion of G-20 Summit 2017 at Hamburg.
It is globally selected among few inventions in the first stage of ‘The First Mile Innovation Challenge’ organised by The Consortium for Affordable Medical Technologies (CAMTech) of
Massachusetts General Hospital in association with GE Sustainable Healthcare Solutions.
It is awarded with ‘BIRAC-SRISTI Appreciation Award-2017’ worth Rs.1Lac by ‘Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institution’ (SRISTI) and ‘Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council’ (BIRAC) under Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India.
It is now in the final stage of ‘Millennium Alliance’ by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in partnership with United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Technology Development Board (TDB), World Bank Group, UK AID, Facebook, WISH etc.
Philanthropic initiative:
We have dedicated more than a decade putting all our available resources to prevent menace of NSI and biomedical waste. We have voluntarily offered a free of cost license to WHO, UNICEF and RED-CROSS to use our invention globally for the well-being of public at large, so that the ultimate benefits of invention may directly reach to the end-users in urgent need.
Inventors:
1. Pratibha Rathore
2. Bharati Rathore
3. Jai Hind Rathore
4. Dr. (Mrs.) Neelam Rathore
5. Dr. B. C. Rathore
A brief video available on YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u24Rc7ZIaXo&t=13s
