The Institute for Science and Technology (IWT) has granted €250,000 to Novosanis, a company designs and develops medical devices for a variety of applications, in support of an SME innovation project that aims to develop devices suitable for intradermal injection in adults.

Novosanis, a spin-off company from the University of Antwerp, has received funding from IWT for her research on "component platform for the development of injection devices for various intradermal applications." The goal is to develop an injection device that can be used in an accurate, safe and reliable manner for the patient as well as the end user. Fields of application can be found in both preventive and curative health care.

The devices inject into the dermis, or the upper layer of the skin under the epidermis. Intradermal injection provides a better immune response because of the presence of dendritic cells in the skin. That’s why, a smaller amount of (vaccine) antigen is required compared to intramuscular administration (injection in the muscle). One of the goals of the innovation projects to develop a device that enables vaccination at a larger scale because less vaccine antigen is needed for each injection.

However, a simple, yet accurate intradermal injection technique requires a lot of research and expertise. When injecting too deep (I.e. in the fat layer) the active substance, for example vaccine, will lose its effect and a too superficial injection will cause leakage. In both cases, the vaccine will no longer have the desired result. Thanks to this IWT grant, Novosanis will be able to conduct thorough research with regard to skin thickness, needle gauges, reservoirs and materials for its devices. This investigation will require close cooperation with academic partners such as Vaxinfectio (UAntwerpen) and MIRC (KULeuven).

Koen Beyers, chief technology officer, "This IWT grant will provide an additional boost to our development and development of the VAX-ID devices. The research will now be more profound and elaborate as more parameters can be implemented. Also, we will be able to engage faster with pharmaceutical and vaccine companies."

Novosanis was founded last year in March and is led by a complementary management team: Vanessa Vankerckhoven, chief executive officer, and Koen Beyers, CTO. Vanessa has expertise in vaccinology and microbiology, in addition to medical devices, such as injection devices, in vitro diagnostics and point of care diagnostics, she holds a PhD in medical sciences. Koen holds a Master in Product development and is an expert in concept and idea formation, product development, design optimisation and rapid prototyping. Since July 2013, two researchers joined the team and have experience in product development, engineering and mechanics, and pre clinical trials and injection techniques.

Novosanis designs and develops medical devices for a variety of applications, ranging from injection appliances to in vitro diagnostic accessories. Novosanis has two devices in its portfolio: VAX-ID, suited for injections of e.g. vaccines in the dermal layer of the skin and Colli-Pee, suited for collection of first void urine for detection of e.g. sexually transmitted infections and cancer.