Almost a decade since sharps legislation was passed in the USA and Europe, compliance still has a way to go to reach mandatory legal requirements in hospitals and even more so in non-hospital locations such as the home. The latter is becoming increasingly important in the drive to increase self-administration and independence in management of chronic diseases. To understand future demand for safety syringes, Owen Mumford, a global industry leader in medical device design and manufacturing, commissioned third-party research into trends and drivers surrounding safety-device take up.

Economic pressures on healthcare efficiency are in fact encouraging greater patient self-administration/homecare. Pre-filled syringes are facilitating this move as they help patients manage treatment and dosage. Another important driver towards regular self-administration is fuelled by new biological therapies and competitive biosimilar markets that are mostly administered via subcutaneous injection. Finally, longer life expectancy, combined with a rise in in obesity, diabetes, cancers and heart disease are also driving the push towards self-administration.

The survey estimates that:
• The global safety syringe market is expe-
riencing a growth rate of 8.96% per year;
• The global pre-filled syringe market is expected to rise to $1.137 billion by 2023;
• Safety-engineered pre-filled syringes dominate the total pre-filled market, with approximately 76% share of the total pre-filled demand in 2023;
• This dominance could suggest that pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms consider safety features to be highly attractive to users and are thus favouring their production as a key element for their combination products.

George I’ons at Owen Mumford comments: “This latest analysis provides a clear view of the factors that are at play in the safety device market, roughly ten years from the introduction of legislation making measures to prevent needle-stick injury mandatory. Although compliance has improved massively in hospital environments there is still some way to go. In addition to this the increasing push to drive patients to manage their conditions at home means that homecare settings are also increasingly coming under scrutiny.

“As a result, market projections are buoyant with safety device demand expected to grow across the world. Pre-filled syringes designed to help patients manage prescription and dosage accuracy are expected to grow with particular strength. Safety-engineered devices comfortably dominate the pre-filled market, indicating that pharmaceutical firms regard safety features as a key differentiator.”
A full copy of the whitepaper – “Safety First!” is available on: https://www.ompharmaservices.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/OMPS_WhitePaper_Safety_First.pdf