WHO endorses invention

Over the years I’ve met many inventors who have proudly shown me their safety inventions and then uttered the dread words: “All we have to do is get the law changed!” It is the earnest belief of such inventors that their invention is so important that it must become compulsory for all others to use it. I’m not suggesting for one moment that there is also the scent of commercial advantage in the air – heaven forfend – but legislation, as a route to market, is a long and exceedingly slow process. The best advice to most inventors is to get on with commercialisation and remember the patent clock is ticking. You could expend a huge amount of time and effort in obtaining your safety legislation only to find that you have no time left to make any money.

Bearing all this in mind, I am delighted to report that inventor Marc Koska, and his single-use syringe invention, has been endorsed by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The policy will require all countries to adopt ‘smart’ syringes by 2020. Marc describes WHO’s endorsement as a “Watershed moment.”

But my original observations stand. Marc’s WHO endorsement has been some thirty years in the making. He originally identified the problems caused by syringe re-cycling back in 1984 and then spent some time learning and researching the issue. His invention and solution is fiendishly simple – the K1 Auto-disable Syringe can only be used once. When the plunger is depressed, the head locks. If you try to withdraw the plunger the shaft comes away in your hand rendering the syringe useless. Very neat.