West Pharmaceutical Services Expands Scottsdale Facility

West Pharmaceutical Services Inc. has expanded capabilities at its facility in Scottsdale, Ariz., to meet increased customer demand for the SmartDose electronic wearable injector.

According to the company, the expansion in Scottsdale will enable continuing development and production of SmartDose to accommodate rising interest in the product to further demonstrate the ability to support customer launch plans and to provide supply chain security.

“Expanding our manufacturing capabilities in Scottsdale—and continuing scaling up production in Israel—will enable rapid, dual sourcing to our customers and help them bring innovative new treatments to market,” said Eric Resnick, president, Pharmaceutical Delivery Systems, Proprietary Products, at West.

With the treatment of many chronic illnesses shifting out of clinical settings to home care and self-administration, there is growing need for drug products that can be easily injected by patients. Designed to deliver high volumes of injectable drugs over an extended period of time, SmartDose makes it easier for patients to self-administer medication and encourages compliance with prescribed treatments. Patients have already self-administered thousands of doses using SmartDose in clinical settings. West has delivered more than 100,000 units of SmartDose and more than 800,000 validated Daikyo Crystal Zenith drug containers to pharmaceutical manufacturers for customer-funded development projects and clinical trials, including eight active programs at various stages of pre-commercial development.

“Medication adherence is an ongoing challenge in the pharmaceutical industry, and non-adherence is a leading cause of poor clinical outcomes and increased healthcare costs,” Resnick said. “We designed SmartDose to be an easy-to-use, intuitive and reliable drug delivery system that can help boost adherence for injectable medications—and the customer response has been tremendous.”

The expanded capabilities at the Scottsdale site include clean-room manufacturing and additional laboratory space. New jobs are being created in R&D, engineering, quality and operations functions to ramp-up production, new development and sustainment engineering, officials reported.

The silicone-free Daikyo Crystal Zenith drug container that is used within SmartDose is commercially available in the ready-to-use format, and the combined offering provides system reliability and accountability from one partner.

SmartDose is a single-use, electronic wearable injector that adheres to the patient’s body, usually on the abdomen, and is pre-programmed to deliver high volumes of viscous or sensitive drug products. SmartDose includes a Daikyo Crystal Zenith drug container with elastomer components using FluroTec barrier film. The needle is automatically shielded before and after use to help prevent the risk of accidental needlestick injury. West developed SmartDose with extensive human factors analysis to understand and design for the patient’s emotional and physical state at various stages of the journey of disease management.

West Pharmaceutical Services is a manufacturer of packaging components and delivery systems for injectable drugs and healthcare products. West is headquartered in Exton, Pa.