West Pharmaceutical Services, a provider of solutions for injectable drug administration, announced that the NovaGuard SA Pro safety system – a single-use accessory for prefilled ISO standard 1-milliliter long staked-needle syringes – has won the India Packaging Awards for Excellence in Enhanced User Experience and Excellence in Packaging Design – Shapes and Structures. The company also announced a new product line extension to its AccelTRA component program, and showcased the idea through presentations at the UBM InnoPack Pharma Conference in Mumbai that took place on 23 and 24 May 2019.
The India Packaging Awards, presented on 21 May 2019 during a ceremony held at the Sahara Star Hotel, Mumbai, are an initiative by UBM to honor the best innovations in pharma packaging. “West is honored to receive this prestigious recognition for our NovaGuard SA Pro needle safety system, which is designed to help prevent accidental needlestick injuries,” said Eric Resnick, vice president and chief technology officer, Innovation and Technology at West. “We appreciate that needlestick injuries are a serious concern for healthcare practitioners, so we developed the NovaGuard system to provide care providers with greater control and protection from potentially life-threatening exposure to harmful diseases when administering injections.”
The NovaGuard SA Pro 1 ml device has FDA 510k clearance in the U.S. and meets the European 2010/32/EU directive for the prevention of sharps injuries. Additionally, it can be deployed using a single-handed technique and was designed to prevent pre-activation during the handling of prefilled syringes (PFS). The system is compatible with ISO standard 1 ml long glass staked-needle syringes and is transparent for ease of drug extraction, inspection and delivery. The design also facilitates easy assembly of glass prefilled syringes with minimal change parts and changeover time to existing assembly equipment for manufacturers.
Additional features of the safety device system include tamper-resistant functionality, low syringe snap-in force for assembly with PFS and compatibility with standard plunger rods. During the InnoPack conference, West also announced that ready-to-sterilize and ready-to-use gamma sterilized AccelTRA Elastomer Components will soon be available for customers requiring high-performing elastomer components for premium domestic needs or for export to the EU. An extension of the high-performing 4031/45 formula, the components will be available in 13 mm and 20 mm serum and lyo stopper configurations. The 20 mm serum configuration is currently available for sampling and commercial orders; remaining configurations will be available in the coming months.
Additionally, West conducted a panel discussion on ‘Moving Beyond the Value Proposition of Cost Advantage in the Packaging Industry.’ The discussion was moderated by Chris Ryan, vice president, Global Generics, West. Another presentation by Milagro Lopez, director, Segment Marketing, Generics, West, Kok Li Kwang, manager, Technical Support, Asia Pacific of West focused on ‘Latest in Trends: Primary Packaging Solutions for Generic Injectables and Needle Safety Systems.’
