Take the plunger out of a prefilled syringe and a lot changes. That's the idea behind Avicenna, an early-stage company developing a disposable, prefilled cartridge that pairs with a reusable injector, for therapeutic drugs and biologics. The company believes a sealed cartridge with no plunger can substantially extend drug stability, shelf life and the time a medicine remains usable for a patient. It could also let manufacturers fill far bigger batches at lower cost.
Avicenna's founder, Boris Zubry, is an engineer, professor and inventor, and he argues that the plunger and barrel design behind today's prefilled syringes causes more problems than it should. His list is long. Drug stability and shelf life top it, followed by silicone oil coatings on the barrel and impurities that can leach or be extracted from the materials around the drug. The supply chain suffers as well: storage, shipping, handling, cold chain management, medical disposal and the difficulty of reaching remote areas all make his list. At the point of use, he points to air bubbles, overfill, leakage, breakage and cross-contamination.
The cartridge is single-use and sealed under vacuum or inert gas. It uses Avicenna's patented Magnetic Injection Syringe Technology, or MIST, and can hold liquids, thicker semi-liquids and gases. Material can move in either direction, so the same system can inject or extract, something that could matter in research and fieldwork.
There's no plunger pushing from inside. Permanent magnets sit in the reusable injector, outside the cartridge, and pull a small piston along the inside. The piston is inert, made of ferrous material and wrapped in Teflon, and as it travels it pushes the medicine out. With no plunger rod, the cartridge can stay sealed at both ends until the moment of injection. Avicenna designed it to keep the contents away from the outside environment and from leachables and extractables, and since the piston lubricates itself, silicone oil stays to a minimum.
Avicenna CEO Dr. Christopher Tirotta notes that magnetically driven delivery is already common in industry. In his view, a vacuum-sealed cartridge can lengthen shelf life and hold back the climbing costs of manufacturing, shipping and storing prefilled syringes. He adds that it could put life-saving medication within reach of even the most remote places.
Avicenna treats the cartridge as the fixed part of the system. Around it, the injector can take different forms, as long as it houses the magnet that drives the piston. So far the team has prototyped a pen and a trigger-operated version, the second at a partner's request. Partners can shape the injector to suit their own use case and brand, and the final refinements depend on their development and commercialization plans.
The cartridge can be made from glass, plastic or another suitable material, hermetically sealed, in any fill size, shape or color. It has a tamper-evident design and comes with a carrying case for storage and transport. Its vacuum or inert gas is chosen to suit the drug and released through the needle or a valve, and it can take any needle attachment design. Cartridges are single-use and made from recyclable materials.
The injector is lightweight, durable and built for repeated use. It can be a pen, a pistol or a syringe format, and its magnetic field is shielded to protect its surroundings.
Zubry points out that more than 70 drugs are now sold in prefilled syringes. They include antithrombotic agents, vaccines, blood stimulants, interferons and rheumatoid arthritis treatments. Citing research, he says more than 4.5 billion prefilled syringes were used in 2025, and the global market is projected to reach $65 billion by 2035. Chronic disease, self-administration, wider drug availability and uses beyond medicine all push it upward, along with technical progress. That last factor is where Avicenna has placed its bet.
Ready to Rethink Drug Delivery?
Whether you're a pharma partner, investor, or just curious about the technology, we'd love to talk.
