US Simcro launches new safety animal injector

Hamilton-based Simcro, specialist in providing customised and innovative animal health delivery solutions to the pharmaceutical industry, has launched anew safety injector, Sekurus TM.

SekurusTM features a patented 'self-tenting' needle guard and two-step mechanism that allows the operator to tent the animal's skin and deliver the vaccine in a one-handed action. This means the other hand can be kept away from the injection site virtually eliminating the risk of accidental self-injection, explains Simcro director and manager of research and development Rod Walker.

Traditionally, operators have to use one hand to hold the injector while grasping a fold of the animal's skin with the other hand to prepare or 'tent' it for the injection. Every year, farmers and vets suffer needle-stick or self-injection injuries as a consequence of having their hand close to the injection site.

 "This level of operator safety has simply not been available until now and is particularly significant when treating large animals in difficult situations. The action of Sekurus also ensures the injection is delivered quicker, more precisely and with less stress to the animal," Walker adds.

The Sekurus 'self-tenting' injector was launched in New Zealand in February in conjunction with a new vaccine, BoprivaTM from Pfizer Animal Health. 

Simcro plans to market the Sekurus 'self-tenting' injector for other applications and other animals in early 2010.