In February 2024, our partner in the USA launched a wearable device, called OBI, for the administration of a drug used in cancer therapy on the US market! The FDA granted approval for this in December 2023.
The OBI (on-body injector) or OBDS (on-body delivery system) is the latest addition to the LTS technologies.
This is very good news, which shows that it is worth investing in technologies that make therapies easier for patients.
How can I imagine this?
Cancer chemotherapy destroys rapidly dividing “bad” cells. Unfortunately, it cannot distinguish between “good” and “bad” cells, so that other, namely good cells, such as the important immune cells, are also destroyed by chemotherapy.
Because the body has too few immune cells after chemotherapy and is therefore extremely weakened, it no longer has much to offer against serious infections.
Therefore, every effort is made to restore these indispensable immune cells as quickly as possible. To this end, patients undergoing cancer treatment are given the active ingredient with the difficult-to-pronounce name Pegfilgrastim. This active ingredient stimulates the formation of certain immune cells (neutrophil granulocytes), which reduces the risk of infection!
The technology scores points in several ways
The application is very simple: the OBDS is attached to the patient directly after cancer therapy at the doctor’s or hospital. However, the active ingredient is not released until 27 hours later. Why?
At this point, there are still residues of the active substance used for cancer therapy in the patient’s body. If new immune cells were to be formed directly now thanks to the administration of Pegfilgrastim, they would be destroyed immediately by the chemotherapy. After 27 hours, however, the chemotherapy has hardly any effect on the formation of immune cells.
Advantageous for patients
The on-body injector has several advantages that make life easier for patients undergoing cancer therapy. It saves the patient a trip to the doctor or hospital. The device automatically inserts a small needle into the body after 27 hours and injects the active substance within a few minutes. The needle then retracts back into the device and a beep signals that the OBDS can be removed easily and painlessly. In this way, Pegfilgrastim can be administered conveniently at home.
The LTS philosophy continues to be: We CARE. We CREATE. We DELIVER.
Foto: LTS Lohmann Therapie-Systeme AG
