New Syringe Technology to Deliver COVID-19 Vaccines

Jul 18, 2020 by CenTrial



ApiJect has developed a new technology to more quickly allow the packaging and distribution of vaccines, especially in a national emergency like this pandemic.

Their prototype system is a prefilled soft plastic squeezable blister with a syringe attached that can be produced at the rate of 300 per minute which the company claims should lower the cost compared to the current 10-dose glass vial with separate syringe.

In an unusual move, the US government has awarded ApiJect a $138 million no-bid contract to produce 100 million of its devices even though the injectors have not yet been approved by federal health authorities, and the company does not currently have the manufacturing capacity to deliver this volume.

A further $456 million has been promised to them to develop factories that will produce a further 500 million devices, resulting in the per-syringe cost to more than double what the government is paying other companies.

The startup, which had a five-year plan to get up to production speed, is now scrambling to produce 100 million devices by the end of the year.

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