| At Haughton Design, we aim to incorporate sustainable strategies in our product development process to reduce the overall environmental impact of devices. As healthcare technology is increasingly aligning with global efforts to address environmental challenges, HD analysed perhaps one of the most well-known medical devices – the EpiPen Autoinjector. This project resulted in suggested improvements, as well as a new concept for a more environmentally friendly EpiPen. However, the real value was in exploring an opportunity early on and demonstrating that it would not have been a good long-term investment. |
Following an initial product teardown, the EpiPen auto-injector was reverse engineered and dissected. The next step of this project was to perform a high level Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). An LCA addresses the environmental aspects and potential impacts throughout a products life cycle (according to ISO 14040). The full life cycle of the existing device was analysed as thoroughly as possible with the information available and opportunities for environmental improvement were identified. Where information was not readily available tools such as SolidWorks sustainability analysis were used to quantify the environmental impact.
Taking the proposed suggestions for improvement, concepts for a product redesign were developed. These concepts focused on:
A. Replicating the original product but reducing the number of parts, materials and overall size
B. A redesign consisting of a reusable case and refillable cartridges to reduce landfill material
Creating an idea judgement matrix allowed the project to focus on one concept to take forward. This resulted in ‘Concept A – a reduced size autoinjector’ to be taken further.
To ensure the new concept was realistic, constraints were set out that replicated features of the existing device. This included the firing force, drug dosage, needle extension/retraction lengths and cap size. Keeping to these parameters allowed for a detailed spec to be set out for developing Concept A further. Essentially the goal was to:
‘Develop an Eco EpiPen that functions in almost exactly the same way as the original device whilst having a reduced negative impact on the environment’.
The key feature that determined the feasibility of this concept was the spring. As the firing force was to be kept the same, research was carried out on whether a more compact spring could be used to achieve the same result without major changes to the design of the overall device and internal features. This would result in a much smaller device with less material and a smaller volume.
| The research determined that to provide the same firing and stored force, whilst maintaining identical mechanical features and material thicknesses would not greatly improve the environmental impact of the device. For example, in the new smaller version, the outer case part resulted in only a 14% reduction in material compared to the original (the goal that was initially set out was at least a 20% reduction in overall weight). Furthermore, the redesign involved a significant change to the overall form of the device, making it much shorter. The implications of this change would require substantial user testing and human factors evaluation as the new form could introduce new risks.
As with many design projects, at this point the process went back into the design loop and new concepts were considered whilst still adhering to the key project goal. |
Keeping focus on reducing the amount of material used in the device, emerging technologies were researched. This highlighted the rise of needless injectors. This is a generally unused technology in the world of autoinjectors and is particularly known for providing benefits for people who are uncomfortable with the use of needles. However, something that has perhaps been overlooked when developing this technology is the sustainability benefits it could provide. The absence of a needle means that the resting force of internal components is much less than that of a spring-loaded device. Material can then be thinned down or removed, significantly reducing the amount of plastic in the device.
The removal of the needle also means that the safety systems which prevent needle stick injury after use are no longer required. This results in a substantial saving in both plastics required for components and the removal of one of the springs.
Needleless devices still require a component to provide firing force. For this new concept, another emerging technology was researched – compressed gas cylinders. Technical data shows that a gas cylinder can be used to provide the same amount of firing force as the existing spring-loaded EpiPen. Combining needleless technology with a compressed gas cylinder would be an innovative was to redesign the EpiPen to be more environmentally friendly.
Of course as in most cases, with the improvement of one area comes potential downsides in others. For example, with the new proposed solution, the introduction of a gas cylinder may make material separation for disposal difficult. Also, a fully needleless solution is yet to be fully accepted in the world of medical devices
Summary:The next steps of this project would include engineering the proposed solution as well as some further research into the proposed technology. Further development could involve gaining user feedback of the new device and demonstrating the sustainability improvements with a proof of principle prototype. The work already done on this project is significantly small when looking at the whole medical device development journey and it was decided that it was not feasible to continue with a project of such large scale at this time. The success of this project was not in the solution but in the process. It demonstrates the value of exploring an opportunity early on and failing fast to avoid unnecessary costs and risks later down the line. Exploring a seemingly simple solution of reducing the amount of material in the EpiPen whilst maintaining the same functionality proved to not be achievable. One of Haughton Design’s areas of expertise is New Opportunity Exploration. This is a phase carried out at the very start of a project to assess whether a project is viable in terms of commercial, usability and sustainability before substantial cost and time is invested. This project demonstrated how this process can be successfully carried out and used to identify whether a product development opportunity is worth pursuing. |
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