Rescitech Vision Pvt Ltd founded by a family of five members Bharati Rathore, Pratibha Rathore, Jai Hind Rathore, Dr. Bhuvan Chandra Rathore and Late Dr. Neelam Rathore in 2014. Major focus is to invent and develop a cost-effective, safe & sustainable technology for administration of drugs/vaccines. Bharati Rathore talks to Bio Patrika about their new patented invention ‘Futuristic Safe Injection System-2020‘ which is now available for licensing and industrial commercialization.
Provide a brief introduction about your education, interests and entrepreneurship journey.
We, the inventors of ‘Futuristic Safe Injection System-2020’, are a family of five members, which includes myself Bharati Rathore (M. Tech in Cognitive & Neuroscience, University of Rajasthan), my elder sister Pratibha Rathore (M. Tech. in Medical Nanotechnology, SASTRA University), my younger brother Jai Hind Rathore (pursuing BS in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel University, USA); our parents, my father Dr. Bhuvan Chandra Rathore (M. Sc., Ph. D. (Chem.), LL.B., MIPL, Former Joint Registrar of Trademarks and GI, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India) and my mother Late Dr. Neelam Rathore (Medical Officer, State Government of Uttar Pradesh, India). We founded the Rescitech Vision Pvt Ltd. in 2014 with a visionary mission to invent and develop a cost-effective, safe, green, inclusive & sustainable technology for administration of drugs/vaccines to save lives of millions without creating any technological divide.
Can you tell us about your new invention?
Syringe is the most basic tool, crucial for the administration of injectables but associated with serious problems of Needle Stick Injury (NSI), needle/syringe reuse, and generation of huge amount of sharp waste which are the root causes of spreading deadly diseases like HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B & C, etc. The lifestyle diseases like diabetes, hormonal problems etc. are enormously promoting the demand of syringes creating ever-growing piles of hazardous medical-waste posing serious health concerns. It has also increased global disease-cum-healthcare burden. Safety concerning injections and the hazardous bio-medical waste is a major global healthcare concern directly responsible for spreading various dreadful diseases.
Our ‘Make in India’ invention, ‘Futuristic Safe Injection System-2020’ consists of disposable Drug-cartridge and frequently reusable Injector but neither is syringe per se. Drug-Cartridge provides a ‘smart packaging technology’ to pharmaceutical industry. A fixed dose of medicament is packed in drug-cartridge between a piston and needle assembly. It is attachable with reusable injector to constitute an efficient self-retractable syringe operable just like a conventional syringe. An efficient retraction mechanism incorporated in injector activates automatically on completion of injection to retract the used needle within the empty drug-cartridge, which is detached and safely disposed-off without incurring any risk of NSI or exposure to spread diseases. Thus, the volume of waste generated due to empty drug-cartridge is decreased approximately by 70-75% in comparison to conventional syringes, where the used syringe and vial/ampule both are discarded.
Since, the fixed dose of medicament is initially packed in drug-cartridge and the use of syringe is completely avoided, the cost of injection procedure is decreased to a significant extent keeping in mind the continuous decreasing cost of reusable injector with each and every procedure. Therefore, even a slight increase in packaging cost automatically decreases the overall cost of injection procedure to enormous extent due to complete elimination of syringe.
In this manner, the medicament is directly transferred from manufacturing unit into the patient’s body without use of separate syringe. It completely avoids the contamination of medicament, under/over-dosage and invaluable human hours wasted in transferring the medicaments from container to syringe and syringe to patient’s body, setting of dosage, elimination of air bubble etc. It also saves 10-15% over-filling of precious medicines in vials/ampules and ensures maintenance of drug-efficacy.
Futuristic Safe Injection System-2020 
Futuristic Safe Injection System-2020 with glowing LED
Our system provides two variants of reusable injectors, multiple variants of safely disposable drug-cartridges and a fluid-collector, each one functioning distinctly depending upon various operational situations and requirements. The injector is also provided with LED to regulate and to keep vigil on the entire injection procedure by illuminating the injection site during the dark hours.
The Fluid Collector is designed to prevent needle reuse and needle stick injury during the safe collection of the fluids when coupled with injector.
The European Patent Office, the International Search Authority of World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), while examining our International Patent Application (PCT/IB2016/051060) WO/2016/142799 “A FLUID INJECTING SYSTEM WITH NEEDLE RETRACTION BY VACUUM” has specifically opined in its Written Opinion the economic viability and its impact as follows:
“The technical effect of these features is that the injector is reusable while the only parts to be discarded are the needle hub and the medicament cartridge. As a result a cheaper and friendlier to the environment system is achieved without an increased risk of needle injuries.”
Where did you find the initial spark to develop this innovative technology?
In early 2006, we came across WHO report (2002) which reported 70% injections being given by reused syringes in developing world, causing 1.3 million deaths, loss of 26 million years of life worldwide. It also revealed spike in new cases, particularly by Needle Stick Injury (NSI), upto 30% of hepatitis B, 41% of hepatitis C and 9% of HIV/AIDS. WHO estimated increased medical costs $1 billion alone in USA annually. Such large numbers were not just numbers but precious lives lost to the menace of unsafe injections. We deeply realized our unfortunate plight of being a chronic victim of such a grave threat surrounding us without having any realization.
We undertook the report as a missionary challenge to get rid of this dreadful menace. After thorough study, we concluded that only retractable syringes may be the perfect solution to this challenge, but being highly expensive, hardly 1% of the global population may afford such safe syringes. After a continuous work for about 6 years, we got five International Patent Applications of different designs of retractable syringe published by WIPO in 2014. Ultimately, we succeeded in designing a reusable retraction mechanism to develop a greener, safer, cheapest and user-friendly solution, ‘Futuristic Safe Injection System-2020’ to administer drugs/vaccines without using syringe. The technology is patented in the USA, UK, China and South Africa and likely to be granted in Japan and India.
Every person has ‘Right to Live’ healthy and dignified life. Our invention will provide safe, green & affordable technology for drug/vaccine administration; break technological divide to ensure democratic, sustainable and inclusive healthcare; mass vaccination of global population; eliminate unsafe syringes to eradicate HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B & C; achieve Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and curb carbon footprint of healthcare sector to fight Climate Change. It will significantly benefit the entire humanity consisting of more than 7 billion people of our planet by providing safe, affordable and green healthcare technology.
Can you tell us about the challenges you had to face to develop this technology?
Our journey to develop this disruptive break-through technology for more than a decade has been riddled with challenges and unforeseen hurdles. Despite that, we continued our persistent endeavours and invested our entire knowledge, skill, efforts, time, money, energy as well as all meagre resources in designing our dream invention without any external financial or otherwise assistance. Since 2006, all our financial resources, whatsoever available at our ends, have exhausted completely in inventing and successfully prosecuting the patents.
In fact, this invention is the brain-child of Dr. Neelam Rathore, my beloved mother, who was medical officer in a State Hospital, whom we unfortunately lost during the pandemic. She was our real source of inspiration, mentor and inventor, who completely dedicated herself in all respects in giving final shape to this injection system.
How do you think your technology will achieve mass vaccination?
There is a need for billions of safe syringes to vaccinate 7.8 billion people with COVID-19 vaccine. Rising disease burden during pandemic has also increased the demand for safe syringes exponentially. Safe syringes being expensive are unaffordable to the masses. Moreover, use of ordinary syringes is associated with problems of NSI, needle reuse, and sharp waste spreading deadly diseases like HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B & C, etc. which may trigger new epidemic during COVID-19 pandemic generating an unprecedented healthcare disaster.
