Unilife Corporation's Unifill ready-to-fill(prefilled)syringe has received patent no.8,167,837 from the US Patent and Trademark Office(USPTO).
The patent covers Unilife's proprietary technology,which integrates automatic and operator-controlled needle retraction features within the barrel of a prefilled syringe.
Unilife Corporation CEO Alan Shortall said the patented technology differentiates the company from every other prefilled syringe that is either on the market,or in the development stage.
"The patent further validates the uniqueness of Unilife's proprietary integrated retraction technology,"Shortall added.
"We continue to invest heavily in the diversification of our IP portfolio in order to expand and protect our position as a global leader for injectable drug delivery systems.
"Indeed,we expect our total number of patent filings to increase by two to three times in calendar year 2012 compared to 2011."
Till date,Unilife has been granted 60 patents globally for its device technologies and has filed more than one hundred additional patent applications that are expected to be granted at various times by the USPTO and other international patent organizations.
