Patient-Centric Design: The Auto-Injection Experience

Our client is in early stage development of an auto-injection device for self-injecting autoimmune patients and caregivers.

In an effort to reduce the autoimmune treatment burden and create a truly differentiated self-/caregiver-injection experience, our client wanted to gain an empathetic understanding of patient and caregivers who use autoinjectors, including their self-injection experiences, unmet needs, drivers and barriers to self-injection, and critical/desired autoinjector features and aspects.

Our approach delivered 6 autoinjector design principles based on an empathetic understanding of self- and caregiver-injector experiences. We provided the engineering team with detailed evaluations of over 40 different autoinjector features and aspects, including critical watch-outs and trade-offs to consider during the design process. Our research identified the “must-haves” for developing a truly differentiated auto-injection experience, ensuring that the resulting device instills confidence in patients and caregivers at every step of the injection process. This allowed our client to embark on a focused design process, in which the most motivating and differentiating features are prioritized.