Today, a majority of newly approved drugs are being marketed in lyophilized form for reconstitution at the point of care as molecular complexity of these drugs does not allow their distribution in a liquid form. Earlier, reconstitution and mixing was quite difficult and used to involve multiple steps that’s why drugs requiring reconstitution were used to administer in healthcare settings by medical professionals resulting into higher treatment costs. Continued development in healthcare has led to the inception of advanced technologies leading to reconstitution of the drugs by patients themselves requiring treatment for a variety of diseases such as multiple sclerosis, hemophilia and rheumatoid arthritis. A variety of medical devices used for reconstituting drug before administration are dual chamber syringes, dual chamber cartridges, direct connect to vial, vial adapters, vial to vial systems, closed system transfer device and needle less transfer devices. Some of the commercially available medical devices for drug reconstitution at the point of care are EZMix and Unifill Select marketed by an American company Unilife. Some of the key players operating in this market are Unilife, Sensile medical, Integrity Bio, Eli Lilly, Becton Dickinson, Alkermes, Bioject Medical technologies, Inc., Baxa Ltd. and Bespak Europe Ltd.
The global market for drug reconstitution at the point of care is driven by increasing demand of drugs requiring reconstitution, increasing pharmacological efficacy and advancements in technology leading to easy drug reconstitution such as Dual chambers in a single device has enabled the storage of drug powder and diluents separately without any interaction. SenseLyo, a drug reconstitution system marketed by Sensile Medical enables automated filling of various drug reservoir types and sizes. Growing number of new chemical entities being used as therapeutic agents also increases the demand for drug reconstitution devices rendering them stability at room temperature. Geographically, North America represents the largest market as biologic drugs are in great demand in these regions that requires drug reconstitution prior administration. Emerging countries are expected to show substantial growth in coming future along with the growing demand for biologics and increasing incidences of chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases.
