How a city-based company is removing needles from injections

When vaccine hesitancy was at an uncomfortable high in 2021, a study in the UK found a possible reason — a quarter of adults across age, gender, ethnicity, and income admitted to being afraid of injections.

- GNS News Agency

For Sarvesh Mutha, Ankur Naik, Scott McFarland, and Mark Timm, who had been working in the healthcare space, needle phobia was an observed reality for years before they decided to address this pain point by setting up a company in Pune, IntegriMedical, in 2020.

"All of us had experienced the challenge of needle phobia, with ourselves, our children or within our families. Studies have shown that almost two in three children and 20 to 30 per cent of adults, globally, have a lot of needle phobia and, for that reason, they were even missing their vaccinations and treatments in a lot of cases," says Mutha, Managing Director, IntegriMedical. The more the founders started to think about it, the more worrying details came to the fore. Needle phobia wasn't just a matter of patient discomfort, but involved additional issues, such as needle stick injuries, which is emotionally traumatic for a caregiver or a healthcare professional, the threat of cross-contamination and logistical complexities of disposing of needles. "There were so many issues that indicated a challenge in the systematic flow in the drug delivery system that we thought it would be a great idea to come up with a needle-free injection that can be safe and eliminate the fear of needle phobia," says Mutha.