Pharmapack Awards 2024 Start-up Innovation Award Winner – Capa Valve Ltd

Capa Valve Ltd. team

The 2024 Pharmapack Awards celebrated the best in innovation and design for the pharmaceutical packaging and drug delivery industry on January 24, 2024.

Please could you give a background to Capa Valve Ltd and your overall mission as a company? 

The Capa Valve technology was first developed and patented in 2012 as a technology transfer from a bespoke piece of heating system maintenance equipment developed by Kevin Abbott. The novel valve arrangement if miniaturised would find application in medical syringes for dual stage sequential dispense of two separate liquids, which was achieved in association with a local UK University. 

More recently, Capa Valve has further developed the technology in response to the growing application of freeze-dried (lyophilised) drugs and the consequential need for a convenient low-risk, low-cost solution for the reconstitution of lyophilised drugs. 

This year Capa Valve has added to its technology portfolio by addressing this ever-increasing need for such a drug delivery system by introducing two simple parts which can be sized and installed in any standard syringe (glass or polymer) at an estimated cost of around 10 cents.  

The overall mission for Capa Valve is to license out the technology. We are currently in negotiation with a number of interested pharma companies as well as medical device manufacturers. 

What were the challenges you faced while developing this product? How did you overcome these issues? 

As a small start-up company, we do not have access to extensive facilities for developing prototypes so we have had to be creative in the way in which we have produced production representative prototypes. As the technology is very simple that has been achievable alongside having access to some cutting-edge additive manufacturing facilities through our partnership with a UK University. Also, we have not taken any investment and the company directors have funded all development along with funding the associated IP. 

How does Capa Valve balance its delivery requirements with reducing risks and costs to patients and reducing packaging waste? 

Reducing costs, risks to the patient, and packaging waste is implicit in the way the technology functions. For example, this is evident when comparing the traditional method of reconstituting and lyophilized drug for injection with the method that can be afforded using a standard pre-filled syringe with the Capa Valve technology installed. The packaging and equipment needed is reduced from two vials, two syringes, two needles, and two swabs down to a single pre-filled syringe containing a predetermined amount of lyophilate and diluent. The process using a prefilled syringe also reduces risk of contamination and incorrect dilution ratio and dosage. The Capa Valve solution is the simplest prefilled device when compared to other prefilled devices, which all use a bespoke design syringe and a complex arrangement of multiple components.  

What significance is this award to a company like Capa Valve Ltd? 

This award is extremely important to Capa Valve as it is a recognition of the potential value of the technology to both the pharma industry as well as the health care community and will help us in our journey in commercialising the Capa Valve products. 

How do events such as Pharmapack help companies like Capa Valve contribute to a thriving pharmaceutical packaging and drug delivery industry? 

As a start-up from outside of the pharmaceutical packaging and drug delivery industry and therefore no traction in this arena, Pharmapack was signposted to us by someone who regularly attended the event and we exhibited as a start-up for the first time in 2023. This event created a step change in our fortunes in an industry, which although thriving, is difficult to penetrate. The event opened many doors for us. We anticipate another surge of interest in our technology and an acceleration of progress following this year’s Pharmapack event. 

What’s in store for the future of Capa Valve?

Our focus now and for the foreseeable future is to work with our licensees in bringing the Capa Valve technology to market as well as working with the health care community through organisations such as the NHS Innovation Service to understand better how the technology may be applied and developed further for wider application. 

Discover all Pharmapack 2024 Award winners here.