TSK Labs offers free patent licenses for their Low Dead Space needles to vaccinate against COVID-19
With a specially developed needle that can potentially save 4 to 8 percent of a precious vaccine, millions more can be vaccinated against COVID-19. To help stop the COVID-19 pandemic, needle manufacturer TSK Laboratory will allow vaccine manufacturers to freely use their patented Low Dead Space technology for administering COVID-19 vaccines.
The use of this special needle means less vaccine wasted, costs reduced and the right dose of the vaccine injected. For example, the EU purchased 200 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech to vaccinate 100 million citizens. With TSK Laboratory’s Low Dead Space technology an additional 4 to 8 million people could be vaccinated compared to if a standard needle is used.
A conventional needle has an average dead space of 45 microliters. That’s the amount of vaccine or medicine being wasted per injection. TSK Laboratory developed an innovative and patented needle in 2014 in which this average dead space is reduced to 14 microliters. Using a conservative estimate this could lead to a savings of 20 microliters per dose, and in an optimistic scenario even 40 microliters per dose. This represents somewhere between 4 and 8 percent based on the assumption that a vaccine dose is 0.5 millilitres. By keeping the dead space in the needle to as low as possible the full indicated vaccine dose can be given with each injection.
TSK Laboratory’s Low Dead Space needles have mainly been used for the administration of more expensive medicines, but now they can also be used for mass vaccination against COVID-19.
TSK Laboratory is a family company specializing in manufacturing medical needles in Japan since 1974. It currently has offices in Japan, China, Canada and the Netherlands. TSK Laboratory Europe B.V. owns patent rights for TSK Laboratory’s Low Dead Space technology and has decided to allow other parties to freely use this technology for administering COVID-19 vaccines. By doing so TSK Laboratory Europe B.V. hopes this can become an integral part of the vaccination programs.
For more information, visit: https://www.tsklab.com/
Read: White Paper “TSK Low Dead Space Needle can help in the fight against COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2)”- https://www.tsklab.com/category/white-papers/
