Leading Exhibit – innovative single-use composite unit dose with tamper-evident cannula

During Compamed 2015, Spang & Brands presents a unique Composite Unit Dose (CUD) with tamper evident closure (TE seal) as exhibition ‘premiere’. The device is audibly different: the closure opens with a clearly audible ‘click’ and cannot be resealed afterwards.

Introducing pheneo click!™, a CUD which serves as primary packaging for single application treatments in the dental health sector – for the filling of a cavity following tooth decay treatment.

Shortly after Compamed 2013 design experts at PHENEO and Spang & Brands began their collaboration to develop the new CUD. PHENEO, with its headquarters in Bremen, Germany, is a creative organization offering new and innovative primary packaging solutions for pharmaceutical and dental industries, among others. In Spang & Brands PHENEO discovered the ideal partner. The systems supplier has many years’ experience in the development and manufacture of components and systems for medical applications. The organization distinguishes itself by the highest levels of competence in multi-component injection moulding. In close cooperation, an innovative closure was developed where a specific compatible mixture of plastics materials and highly secure unit-dose packaging are combined to guarantee patient compatibility and safety.

The supreme challenge was to select the correct materials as both soft and harder components are used and must perfectly harmonize with each other. Other important factors which had to be taken into consideration during product development were safe and precise handling, not forgetting streamlined construction, including emphasis on highest possible functionality.

Right from the start, Spang & Brands was firmly on board with all aspects of the de-velopment of the new CUD: close cooperation in the design phase and concept decision, followed by testing a variety of raw materials. The exacting demands of the designers were implemented to create accuracy – within µm range. Narrow, yet, deep flow paths for a variety of filling compounds had to be born in mind, given differing ranges of application pressure. The principal challenge was to achieve that each of the respective filing compounds could be administered without remaining residue and without flow-back. The final result: a CUD, fully compliant to satisfy the highest possible demand, and with a total weight of just 0.5 grams.

Following meticulous experiments, carried out in the new Spang & Brands TechCenter, plastics compositions were found which are processed involving the multi-component injection moulding technology. In addition, they satisfy patient tolerability, pharmacological and medical safety, opacity at certain wavelengths, us-er-definable encodability (laser etc.) and, last but not least, they guarantee inter-compatibility. A very specific TPE formula was chosen for the TE closure – a soft component – which harmonizes with the PBT recipe of the light-resistant PBT com-pule, a hard component. The innovative joining technology, incorporating hard and soft materials, had to ensure that the TE closure only breaks at a certain traction force – does so with a clearly audible ‘click’, and without leaving any residue. Fur-thermore, the TE material had to be designed in such a way as to render the pheneo-click!™ unusable following the original application. This means that the cannula cannot be resealed; it cannot be used again.

Individuality and safety are additional advantages of the CUD. Every customer, pharmaceutical or dental device manufacturer, will be able to select color and shape of the different closures – dependent on the specific applications or even the viscosity of the filling compound. Therefore, confusion is eliminated, as far as it is possible. Also, the TE closure obviates inadvertent multiple use and the hazards of contamination. In future, construction of this CUD innovation allows for a number of other shapes and neck length to accommodate a wide variety of applications.

The partnership between Spang & Brands and PHENEO resulted in the creation of a state-of the art CUD system which provides increased patent safety by much re-duced germ contamination. This single-use closure ensures that tooth decay treatment is administered under maximum hygienic conditions. As a result, the product is well ahead of any possible future tightening of hygiene guidelines. Moreover, the dental practitioner benefits from the device’s added value: the certainty of a safe product in its original packaging. Ultimately, the pheneo click!™ CUD makes a significant contribution to enhanced medical care for both the user and the patient.