For those not into that sort of thing, rectal suppositories can be a seriously unpleasant necessity of life. It’s normally a digital process (the other kind), which keeps compliance low and embarrassment high. A woman who had to live with having to take rectal suppositories decided to create a device that delivers them with more confidence and greater dignity.
The Sephure looks and works similar to a syringe, but dispenses a tablet into the orifice. Unlike vaginal applicators, though, it was designed to prevent the formation of a pocket of air around the medication by venting gasses during administration . This helps to prevent leakage once the suppository melts inside the body and will hopefully lead to greater medication compliance and improved therapeutic effects from the drugs.
Here’s more from the announcement about how the idea for the product came to be:
Necessity was the mother of invention for Jennifer Davagian Ensign who was diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease, more than 20 years ago and lived with infrequent flares before her first hospitalization seven years ago. She was prescribed a combination of oral and topical rectal suppository medication for the maintenance of remission. In the beginning, Ensign followed her doctors’ instructions that included lying on the floor for 30-45 minutes twice a day, administering a suppository with a finger and resisting the urgency to expel the medication. Upon standing, she needed to wear a protective undergarment because the medicine leaked outside her body. The time and impact on her quality of life was too burdensome for the young mother and business owner and within three months Ensign completely abandoned her prescribed treatment.
A year-to-the-day from her first hospitalization, Ensign landed back in intensive care where she faced the medical consequences of her non-compliance and the reality of her declining health. Upon leaving the hospital a second time, she was committed to taking her medication as prescribed, but dedicated to living a better quality of life.
A master seamstress by trade, Ensign understands how things fit together. Armed with that knowledge and some supplies from her local grocery store and Home Depot, she set to work teaching herself plastic and silicone molding to create a unique suppository applicator…
Product page: Sephure…
Press release: First-of-its-Kind Medical Device Available to Patients Who Use Suppository Medication…
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