PenJet® News Releases

PenJet® Corporation Awarded Degassing Patent for All Needle-Free Injection Systems, Essential for Safe and Painless Drug Delivery

        Santa Monica, CA, January 9 – A U.S. Patent to use any degassed pharmaceutical product in all needle-free injection systems has been granted to PenJet® Corporation, a Santa Monica-based medical device company. Removing trapped air prior to any type of injection is absolutely essential for it to be safe and painless.
        A pre-filled injector, with or without a needle, when stored with a liquid drug will develop an air bubble within a few days after filling. With a conventional syringe, the caregiver simply presses the plunger enough to dispel trapped air immediately before giving an injection. This is not easily or economically accomplished with a pre-filled needle-free jet injector. That’s because the jet injector literally blows the drug through a minuscule orifice right into the skin. Everything in front of the plunger is injected – fluid and any trapped air.
        “The gas bubble has been a major limitation of conventional needle-free injectors, causing a painful injection and often an insufficient dosage,” according to Thomas P. Castellano, PenJet’s® President and CEO. “PenJet’s® patented degassing technology avoids the problem entirely by eliminating the gas before it is put into the injector’s ampoule. Degassed pharmaceutical products do not develop air bubbles. With its proprietary degassing technology, PenJet® is the only company that can deliver pre-filled needle-free injectors that remain bubble-free.”
problem of the air bubble has either been overlooked or insufficiently handled by companies in the needle-free injection industry. Unlike PenJet® that is already manufacturing pre-filled needle-free devices for clinical trials, most other companies do not yet have a pre-filled design ready for commercialization. They have not had to deal with the air bubble problem. Without a jet injector to fill, the question of handling the air bubble has been premature.”
        “We identified the air bubble problem early in the course of our research and development. From the onset, we designed PenJet® to eliminate it. We knew it was critical to have a simple, low-cost method for eliminating gas pockets from the ampoules of our needle-free injectors, well before we finalized our device designs. The widespread use of pre-filled needle-free injectors could not become a reality until a pain-free injection was possible. With our patented degassing technology, PenJet® has achieved that goal.”
        The PenJet® exclusive degassing technology is integral to all aspects of its needle-free injection systems. It is used in its aseptic filling equipment, and is designed into its family of needle-free injectors. Additional patents are pending on further aspects of PenJet’s® degassing technology.
        This latest patent, coming on top of PenJet's® many breakthrough patents for all aspects of needle-free drug delivery, continues to keep it the industry’s design and technology leader.
        PenJet® Corporation is a private company specializing in drug delivery devices. It is a leader in the needle-free injection industry, developing and producing cost-effective, pain-free systems for administering needle-free injections. It maintains a considerable array of patents describing its needle-free injection technology, and additional U.S. and foreign patents are pending for the company’s family of needle-free injectors, peripheral components, aseptic filling machines and pre-fill techniques. Its website is www.penjet.com.