Amy at DiabetesMine tipped us off to these convenient new medication devices, called “syringe buttons”:
This new-fangled gadget is a Russian invention from designers Vladislav Kropachev and Vladimir Makarov. It actually won a 2005 Design Innovation Award last November, but has received surprisingly little press.
What you do with it is place it on your skin and simply push down with your finger. This pierces a capsule inside the Syringe-button containing a dose of medicine, while simultaneously forcing the medicine through the needle and injecting it into the skin. You don’t even have to see the needle as it goes in.
These things can even “mimic pills” in the sense that they can be color-coded and the dosage can be printed on top, so users will be extra clear about the contents.
This is just the device to tide us over until inhaled insulin catches on. But its potential goes far beyond diabetes. And while Vladimir and Vladislav are clearly clever people, marketing may not be their strength. Clearly, a better name is possible.
Amy suggested “Prick Disks” — a great idea, but something tells me that won’t fly. And Pop-Secret is already taken. How about MediPress? Dispensables? Reverse Nipples? Or, since these look like UFO’s, how about Unnamable Syringe Object?
More from Membrana (in Russian!)