The World Market

Because of new legislation banning standard injection devices as unsafe, new products MUST be found.

The world market for such devices is very large: more than $US 6 billion.

An immense effort is being put into the development of safer injection devices, especially in the USA. This is because it is now realized that accidental injury by a used syringe or intentional reuse of a syringe can transmit a wide range of diseases, including HIV/AIDS.

Dr. Whisson has been professionally aware of this problem for several decades and in 1987 invented the first safe syringe. Constant improvements and innovations have brought designs to their current level, which are cost effective, easy to manufacture, and require little to no change in clinical procedures.

Unlike other safe needle technology, the new Needlesleeve developments are extremely simple and can be adapted to virtually all clinical equipment that use hollow needles, whether syringes or not. Because of this it is fair to refer to them as revolutionary.

New Laws Demand New Design

A really satisfactory device must:
1. Not inhibit standard clinical practice, and
2. Involve no significant cost premium.

Some safer devices are beginning to appear on the market but most are redevelopments of old ideas and many seem to have been rushed onto the market without a great deal of insight or knowledge of the clinical need.

A number of newly invented syringes only cover the dangerous needle point when the syringe is empty. A moment's thought tells you that a nurse or doctor will not always want to empty a syringe (full of blood or drug) and that a half-full syringe is at least as dangerous as an empty one.

A really satisfactory device must allow a doctor to perform the full range of injecting or fluid removal techniques without modification or inhibition of standard clinical practice and without a significant cost premium. The innovation offer's.

The Needlesleeve Technology is Unique

1. It is adaptable to virtually all injection and blood taking devices
2. It is simple and cost effective to manufacture
3. It does not call for major changes in established clinical practice

The principle of the Needlesleeve is simple...a thin walled catheter-like sleeve is fitted over a conventional hollow needle and a simple mechanism is incorporated in the injection device to move the sleeve a few millimetres beyond the needle point during the injection or blood taking procedure.

The sleeve is similar to that used for decades and in past applications been inserted into the patient's vein using a solid needle called a trocar. The sleeve on an injection needle does not interfere with insertion of the needle, which by our new principle can then be made safe actually during completion of the clinical procedure. The change to the safe state can be automatic if desired.