Drinking straw delivers drugs more efficiently
children in the form of a drinking straw, which is set to provide a
solution to administering treatment to patients who cannot tolerate
unpleasant tasting drugs.
Reluctance in completing a prescribed course of treatment is a particularly widespread problem, especially in children, where failure to complete the course costs national health services worldwide millions of pounds per year.
In addition, patient compliance has been cited as the main cause of the rise in antibiotic resistant microorganisms.
Clarosip, developed by German-based drugs company Grunenthal, is a straw that contains and releases an antibiotic formulated to have a neutral taste so a child will not notice its presence in a drink.
Clarosip is the first product using the new Sip Technology, a novel drug delivery system developed by Grünenthal for administration of oral antibiotics.
The straw consists of four components: the drinking straw, the dry medication as coated taste-masked granules, the controller and the cap.
The straw is the main body of the SIP-System and resembles an ordinary plastic drinking straw.
The medication, antibiotic clarithromycin, is contained inside the straw in granular taste-masked form. Inside the bottom end of the straw is the controller.
It closes the system at the bottom, is designed to act like a filter and will transport the granules to the top when sipping the straw.
The cap closes the straw at the top and has to be removed before usage.
Carbonated drinks are the most suitable, such as cola or fizzy lemonade. Hot drinks up to 40°C, such as tasty fruit teas, can also be used with Clarosip
However, the company said that thicker drinks with particles, like orange juice with pulp or hot chocolate, were not as suitable because they could prevent the medication from getting through.
Each drinking straw is additionally secured with a protective cap so that the medication granules do not fall out when the package is opened.
