A CONCEPT ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF BUPRENORPHINE AUTOINJECTOR FOR SELF AND EMERGENCY ADMINISTRATION

Objective: In natural and man-made disasters, pain and infection would increase morbidity and mortality. In these situations immediate treatment is mandatory and the drug has to be absorbed faster. An auto injector would be useful. The objective of this study was to develop an analgesic auto injector with buprenorphine.Methods: The auto injector is a reusable device with a disposable drug cartridge, capable of injecting 1 or 2 ml of drug solution. Sterile water filled cartridges were made from a pharmaceutical company. Water was withdrawn from the cartridge under a laminar flow and buprenorphine hydrochloride was injected to make 0.05 mg/ml concentration. Sterility test was carried out before and after injecting buprenorphine in the cartridge by nutrient agar method and aerobic and anaerobic sterility test mediums. Buprenorphine was injected, intraperitoneally in rats through autoinjector and compared with manual injection for its efficacy as an analgesic using Eddy's hot plate.Results: The water filled cartridge as well as the buprenorphine drug filled cartridge was found to be sterile as no growth was observed in the nutrient agar and no turbidity was observed in the sterility test mediums. The analgesic effect of buprenorphine by autoinjector was found to be significantly (Kruskal Wallis ANOVA) more than manual injection and control group (median analgesic time in seconds, Control-4.0; manual injection–7.0; autoinjector–12.0).Conclusion: Water filled cartridge could be converted to drug filled cartridge aseptically. Buprenorphine administered through autoinjector was better as an analgesic than manual injection.Â