The Medical Devices Group at the University of Cape Town has designed a device to significantly reduce the force required to actuate an inhaler, the university has announced. The device, called “Easy Squeezy,” fits over a standard MDI and is meant to make the inhaler easier to actuate for pediatric and geriatric users. A dose counter is also included.
An information sheet for the “force reducing attachment” states that device reduces the force required to actuate an inhaler from about 39.2 N to about 12.3 N.
UCT Associate Professor Michael Levin said, “We spend a lot of our time counselling patients about the importance of using their pumps every day with the best possible technique. And often we place blame on them when they don’t use them every day. But what if they are trying, but just can’t manage to get it right?”
Associate Professor Sudesh Sivarasu added, “We want to destigmatize the use of asthma pumps for children and have designed the sleeve to be similar to a Lego toy collectable. It’s somewhat of a ‘build-your-own’ asthma pump.”
The university said that its Research Contracts and Innovation department “partnered with the innovation team at a very early stage and has facilitated the intellectual property protection and commercialization of the technology.”
Read the University of Cape Town press release.
Read the UCT information sheet for the device.
