A visionary medical device,
beautiful and effortless to use

Client story: Universal Autoinjector Platform

Our client had a remarkable vision. Not content with asking us for the world’s
most technologically advanced autoinjector, they demanded that it beaesthetically pleasing; beautiful even. As the iPhone of medical devices, itneeded to deliver an extraordinarily intuitive, satisfying and effective userexperience. This was a challenge like no other, and one that sparked a threeyear product design journey to deliver the seemingly impossible.
The brief was rooted in the client’s desire to differentiate its
market-leading drug portfolio by enhancing user experience.
As a large European pharmaceutical company, the strategy
was driven by the imperative to protect market share andavoid cost erosion in a hugely competitive, multi-billiondollar market. The growing power of patients as discerning,well-informed consumers keen to exercise choice played an
instrumental role in its thinking.

The patient vision, then, was to create an autoinjector
that was so beautiful and so easy to use that it would becoveted as a status symbol. An unprecedented union ofpleasure and utility would delight users while dramatically
improving compliance and adherence to therapy regimes.
The commercial vision was to create a platform that wasso flexible it could be applied to all therapies across theportfolio. This would help maintain market share in multiple
areas and reduce the development cost of individual
devices over a long-term period.

Beautifully smart…
 Internal custom barcode and/or RFID reader identifies
drug and configures system Configurable tactile user interface, automaticallymanages regime and reminders based on drug ID
 Configurable insertion and injection speed, andinsertion depth Tested by users with limited dexterity and vision. Usableby those with colour-blindness
 Designed for 43 languages
 Bluetooth connectivity for adherence tracking, disease
management and re-orders

01© Cambridge Consultants 2022

Curved and elegant

Proven track record

We’re proud to say that our breakthrough design, theUniversal Autoinjector Platform, nailed the brief andanswered the challenge. As the images here show, thedevice is sleekly curved and undeniably elegant, shaped tofit the hand comfortably, and visually seductive with its dark,monolithic form. The aesthetics conceal a rich user interface
inside the system and hidden-until-lit external user cues thatappear only when needed.

The client chose Cambridge Consultants because of
our proven track record developing innovative drugdelivery devices.
By their own admission, members of the client team had
posed probably the most ambitious design challenge everattempted in the space. And they were also generous topoint out that in their view, no-one else could have pulled
it off.

The beauty is much more than skin deep. In answer to thecommercial challenge, the platform is universal in that it
accepts any registered 1mL standard subcutaneous staked
glass syringe – the instrument used for a wide spectrum ofdrugs, including those for common, lifelong conditions suchas multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. The platform
is adaptable to many drug viscosities. It is configurable to awide product portfolio and a maximum number of patients
across a maximum number of therapy areas.

Thanks to our multidisciplinary setup, we were able todeploy a 100-strong in-house team with all the necessary
skills in design, usability, safety critical software,
microelectronics, physics, manufacturing and more.
Our independence from the supply chain enabled us topositively and objectively influence the design in ways thatwere beneficial for the client and its patients.
The sting in the tail of the story is that a switch of businessstrategy prevented the Universal Autoinjector Platformfrom being launched. We could end by saying this doesn’t
diminish the achievements of the project – but we’ll leaveit to members of our user study to have the final say.
“Beautiful – let’s face it, when it comes to medical things,
they are not attractive, and this is sleek.” “I’m not clear on
what could be improved.” “I’d love to try it!”

The success of the project was testimony to the drive andcommitment of our product and mechanical teams who
applied incredible ingenuity to the various design hurdles.
Colouring everything was the demanding task of packing
complex engineering into such a compact form factor. Thefeat was not just achieved but delivered with a number ofgroundbreaking concepts.
Chief among them is the needle-free user experience.
Needle-phobia is a key reason for non-compliance in selfadministered therapy regimes. But users of the Universal
Autoinjector Platform don’t actually see the needle at all. Afterthey insert a capped syringe into the system, the automatic
uncapping and recapping feature takes over to eliminate any
interaction with sharps. This remains a unique capability.

“Beautiful – let’s face it, when it comesto medical things, they are not
attractive, and this is sleek.”“I’m not clear on what could beimproved.”

Freedom-from-choice design“I’d love to try it!”

The intent was to remove options and simplify choice forthe user. (Think Apple rather than Windows.) This createsa streamlined and natural experience. The internal screen
allows step-by-step user guidance, user preference
settings and health professional-only configuration.
Internal interaction can be reduced to zero when thesystem has been learned, and the user can enjoy pokayoke insertion.

For further information or to discuss your requirements,
please contact:

Lit-WCS-016 v0.2 'Universal-Autoinjector-Platform'

info@cambridgeconsultants.com

UK — USA — SINGAPORE — JAPANwww.cambridgeconsultants.com
Cambridge Consultants is part of Capgemini Invent,the innovation, consulting and transformation brandof the Capgemini Group. www.capgemini.com

02© Cambridge Consultants 2022