Unilab’s SureDose tech gets US patent approval

Unilab scored another breakthrough as the US Patent and Trademark Office granted the patent for its SureDose technology recently.

The SureDose technology is used in Rimaped Suspension, a rifampicin-containing liquid suspension specially formulated for the treatment of childhood tuberculosis.

SureDose is a technology that addresses the problem of inconsistent dosing in the treatment of TB.

“SureDose technology keeps drugs in suspension uniformly distributed during prolonged storage periods even without shaking,” said Dr. Kennie Dee, Unilab vice president for research and development.

In suspensions, drugs such as rifampicin are known to have the problem of caking or settling of the active ingredients at the bottom of the drug bottle.

“Such caking causes dose uniformity problems due to incomplete drug dispersion despite vigorous shaking,” Dee said.

With the physical stability and excellent drug uniformity in SureDose, Rimaped is the only product with a “single-shake suspension technology which ensures that the child always receives an accurate dose of the drug, spoon-for-spoon,” Dee added.

This breakthrough in medicine administration is Unilab’s response to the World Health Organization’s global campaign to “make medicines child size.” According to WHO, the lack of medicines available in dosages or formats suitable for children accounts for the lack of proper treatment for them.

For this, WHO is campaigning to “raise awareness and accelerate action to address the need for improved availability and access to safe child-specific medicines,” particularly for TB, among other major diseases.

The Department of Health reports TB as the sixth leading cause of illness and sixth leading cause of deaths among Filipinos.

With this prevalence, children’s health faces a major danger as a pediatric TB study shows that children below five years old face the most risk of developing the disease after exposure.

Unilab addresses this major health concern by providing treatment efficacy that hinders TB treatment failure and drug resistance caused by underdosing.

The SureDose technology is the fourth Unilab innovation to obtain a US patent following TasteRite (a taste-masking medicine technology), Powdered Mix with Rapidly Dissolving Calcium, and Calcium-Fortified Acidic Beverages.

The technology was developed by PediaTech, Unilab’s R&D organization dedicated to innovative solutions in child care.