“Human Factors Plus” launched by drug delivery firm to help patients

All medical institutions and facilities including hospitals and pharmacies have been trying to facilitate medical treatments of patients, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

As such, Noble, an Aptar Pharma company and provider of drug delivery training device programs for pharmaceutical companies and original equipment manufacturers, launched “Human Factors Plus” (HF+), a service aimed at supporting its customers in bringing new products to market.

The human factors engineering is an essential factor of product development for drug delivery and medical devices, according to the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), which recommends making it a strong part of the design control process to maximize the likelihood that a new device will be safe and effective for its intended users.

Device deficiencies can result in delays for patients receiving effective treatment, as well as lost time and revenue for the sponsoring company. When delays occur in the competitive medical healthcare environment, it leads to lost market share difficult to recover from.

“Human factors engineering provides empirical and analytical evidence that a device and its labelling can be used safely and effectively by the intended patient,” according to Kevin Cluff, senior research human factors engineer at Noble. “This process involves testing the numerous touch points where patients interface with a drug product, including packaging, IFUs, prescribing information, quick reference guides and device indicators and controls,” he added.

The benefits of human factors vary from producing easier-to-use devices and better patient understanding of device use to more effective and efficient training that improves patient compliance and medical outcomes, the company highlighted in a statement.

“Human factors engineering also helps reduce the risk of user errors, product complaints and recalls,” the Aptar Pharma company expressed.

The new service efforts broadens the existing range of value-added benefits from Aptar Pharma services, whilst complementing Noble’s expertise in conceptualization, design and development, mechanical/electrical/software engineering, project management, quality management, manufacturing, commercialization and logistics services as well.

“Noble is proud to be the voice of the patient and to support the patient across every stage of their journey,” explained Tim McLeroy, executive director of marketing and patient services. “We understand how to leverage the application of human factors engineering and we know how to build a better patient experience.”