Focus | Drug Delivery
Project Scope
Mechanical Engineering
Industrial Design
Usability & Human Factors
Background
eg technology has supported multiple pharmaceutical and healthcare organisations in the early stages of drug delivery device development. These programmes have ranged from exploratory innovation projects and platform device concepts through to patented designs, existing prototypes and partially developed device architectures, some of which have been taken through to volume manufacture.
While each programme had its own technical and clinical context, a common requirement was to evaluate how early-stage concepts could be matured into usable, reliable and manufacturable drug delivery devices. This often involved supporting internal development teams with concept generation, usability assessment and mapping out the user workflow, prototyping, design for manufacture and preparation for verification testing.
Across these programmes, early development activities extended beyond proving device functionality. Device architecture, user interaction, dosing workflows, material compatibility and manufacturing considerations all needed to be addressed at an early stage to ensure concepts could progress towards verification testing, pharmaceutical evaluation and future manufacture.
The key to progressing drug delivery concepts is aligning user workflow, engineering and manufacturability from the very start.
Challenge
The challenge across these programmes was to develop drug delivery devices that balanced usability, technical performance and manufacturability, while supporting future testing and scale-up.
eg engineers worked with a range of starting points, including existing patents, platform technologies and legacy prototype designs. While these provided valuable foundations for development, they also introduced constraints around user interaction, reliability and manufacture that needed to be understood and addressed.
Alongside evaluating how devices would perform in practice through formative user studies and early prototyping, the team also needed to consider downstream requirements such as injection moulding, assembly, material compatibility, verification testing and future scalability. The challenge was ensuring that early design decisions met immediate functional requirements while providing a robust foundation for subsequent development.
Our Approach
eg technology applied a consistent, multidisciplinary approach across these projects, combining mechanical engineering, industrial design, usability and human factors expertise.
These concepts were assessed against user workflow, performance, and manufacturability criteria, with iterative prototyping used to explore and refine different approaches. Structured formative user studies played a key role, providing early insight into how devices would be used in practice and highlighting areas of risk or confusion.
From there, the eg team generated and assessed multiple concept directions. These were evaluated against usability, performance and manufacturability criteria, enabling development teams to compare options in a structured way. Iterative prototyping was used to explore key technical questions, assess handling characteristics, ensure dosing accuracy and refine device architecture before progressing towards more representative designs.
Formative user studies played an important role in this process. By observing how representative users interacted with device concepts in a simulated environment, our engineers were able to identify sources of ambiguity, handling challenges and potential use-related risks. These user interaction insights informed refinements to the overall device design, influencing form, interface layout, cartridge configuration and instructions for use.
In parallel, detailed engineering work addressed the practical requirements of manufacture and scale-up. This included designing for injection moulding, considering tooling and assembly methods, selecting materials suitable for combination products and working with manufacturing partners to support controlled builds. These activities helped ensure that concepts were not only technically promising, but also capable of being produced and tested in a more representative form.
Reliability and usability are fundamental in drug delivery. By addressing these alongside manufacturability from the outset, concepts can evolve into credible, testable devices.
The Outcome
Through these programmes, the eg team helped clients progress drug delivery concepts from early-stage exploration towards technically mature, manufacturable devices.
Working closely with client teams, the eg design and human factors engineers generated the evidence needed to inform key design decisions, deepen understanding of user interaction and identify the engineering requirements that would influence subsequent development. As concepts evolved, refinements to usability, device interaction and manufacturability helped ensure designs remained aligned with the practical demands of testing, pharmaceutical evaluation and future production.
In several programmes, devices progressed beyond initial prototype builds and were produced in batches suitable for verification testing and further assessment. This enabled teams to move beyond early feasibility learning and gain a clearer understanding of device performance in more representative forms.
By combining expertise in human factors, mechanical engineering, industrial design and design for manufacture, the eg team helped clients evaluate options, address technical uncertainties and build confidence in the decisions shaping the next stages of development.
Are you ready to develop your product or idea?
For further information on how eg technology can support in getting your technology or ideas to market or to chat with one of the eg team about your product design and development requirements, please get in touch.
