Prefilled Plastic Injector Is Environmentally Superior to Glass Syringe, Study Says

Multiple reports have debunked the notion that glass is an environmentally superior alternative to plastic, but a study released this month is the first one I’m aware of that compares the environmental footprint of a prefilled plastic injection device to the widely used glass syringe. The year-long, peer-reviewed study purports to show that a blow-fill-seal (BFS) prefilled injector developed by ApiJect Systems Corp. offers a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and water usage.

The study, “Life Cycle Assessment of the Prefilled ApiJect Injector,” measured each step in the production and distribution of the device, including upstream materials production, manufacturing, quality inspection, packaging, transportation, and waste management.

Why do this study in the first place?

I did wonder about the motivation for this study, so I put the question to ApiJect Systems President Jon Ellenthal. “All industries are facing pressure from customers, who are making buying decisions based on the environmental impact of products. Sellers need to act responsibly. And pressure is coming from investors and governments to decarbonize,” said Ellenthal. He cited the example of the United Kingdom’s National Health Service, which has the ambition of becoming the world’s first net zero national healthcare entity. Notably, it wants to reach net zero by 2040 in emissions it directly controls and net zero by 2045 in respect to emissions it can influence but does not control directly.

“The environmental impact of a product is a fact of life, so we commissioned this study,” said Ellenthal. “We knew intuitively that our prefilled vial made of low-density polyethylene was more sustainable than conventional glass,” said Ellenthal, but he wanted the data to prove it. “We were the catalyst, but experts did the work.”

The study is authored by Robert Litan, PhD, former director of economic studies at the Brookings Institution, and Matthew Eckelman, PhD, adjunct associate professor at the Yale School of Public Health, with expertise in emissions modeling. The authors were supported by engineers and scientists from Kymanox, a global professional services company exclusively serving the life sciences sector. The study was peer reviewed by an independent panel of environmental and economic modeling experts.

Among the findings:

“For pharma companies looking for sustainable alternatives, we are part of the answer. It’s a more affordable pre-filled device and more sustainable,” said Ellenthal.

“Our biggest advantage is in the manufacturing stage — glass vials are repeatedly washed and sterilized and then shipped for filling, sealing, and so forth. Using our blow-fill-seal (BFS) system, vials can be processed and filled in seconds,” added Ellenthal.

Unsafe injection practices kill more than one million people globally each year

The BFS system is the cornerstone of ApiJect’s technology, which was initially conceived as a medical advance without an environmental agenda. The company was founded in 2015 by Marc Koska, an officer of the Order of the British Empire, with the goal of creating a single-use prefilled syringe that could work in any market. He was driven by the observation that syringe re-use and unsafe injection practices kill more than a million people across the world every year. Koska determined that blow-fill-seal technology was key to producing a scalable, safe drug-delivery system. ApiJect now helps pharmaceutical and biotech companies design scalable prefilled injectors and efficiently fill-finish them with their injectable drug products. This can be done either onsite through a licensing deal or at a facility run by one of ApiJect’s manufacturing partners.

Healthcare supply chains major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions

Regarding its newest product and the life cycle study, study co-author Eckelman said the findings should be of great interest to anyone who cares about the environmental impact of medicines. “We know already that healthcare and its supply chains are important contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which collectively represent 8.5% of total US GHG emissions and approximately 5% of global emissions, of which medicines make up a substantial part,” said Eckelman in a prepared statement. “The report shows that the carbon footprints of traditional glass-based injectable medicine fill-finish options are approximately 65% to 125% higher than ApiJect’s innovative platform, and they require more energy, materials, and water,” added Eckelman.

The prefilled ApiJect Injector is expected to be available some time next year, according to Ellenthal. “We’re a few months away from an FDA filing, and, of course, the drug contained within the vial will need to go through its own regulatory process,” said Ellenthal. “But we are already working with pharmaceutical companies today.”