Objectives

The ultimate goal of this joint research project is to make drug delivery more reliable and robust, especially for multi-pump infusion and applications involving very low flow rates (lower than 25 ul/min). This goal is aimed for by realising the required metrological infrastructure and an assessment of existing drug delivery devices.

• The infrastructure will consist of traceable calibration services for drug delivery systems for flow rates down to 10-100 nl/min, which is several orders of magnitude lower than the lowest calibration service available in Europe today.
• Transfer standards will be developed so that drug delivery equipment can also be calibrated on site. This is important in case the required equipment cannot be readily transported or the equipment is in constant use. Additionally, the shear wealth of instruments typically used in a hospital makes it more efficient to perform the calibration on site.
• The assessment of the drug delivery devices will focus on their performance (e.g. accuracy and reproducibility), dependency on operating conditions (e.g. density, viscosity) and clinical characteristics (e.g. start-up time to steady state, flow rate stability). Classic drug delivery devices will be considered, as well as multi-pump infusion, drug delivery with mobile devices and the influence of drug delivery accessories (such as needles, splitters, valves, tubing, etc.).

Furthermore, the project will deliver a best practice guide for drug delivery and will improve calibration services for drug delivery devices. The best practice guide will be based on the assessment carried out for drug delivery devices. It will focus on the safe and sound usage of various types of drug delivery devices.