TouStar®

Developed for people with diabetes in India, TouStar® is intended for use with Toujeo® insulin cartridges, which contain a concentrated ‘U300’ formula with 50% more insulin than a regular cartridge, making them more convenient and longer lasting.

Until the introduction of TouStar®, concentrated insulins have been offered only in disposable pens. This is because of the risk of a mix-up occurring with regular insulin, which could lead to a serious dose error. To address this, TouStar® has been developed with a dedicated replaceable cartridge system. This system prevents users from accidentally attaching incompatible insulin cartridges to the TouStar® pen and stops use of Toujeo® insulin with any other reusable pen injector. The dedicated cartridge system also simplifies the process of cartridge exchange for the user.

TouStar® has just twenty-one components and shares 70% of these with the award-winning AllStar® pen, helping to reduce both investment and environmental impact in development. The AllStar® pen already has a low injection force, but the TouStar® design reduces this further to about 3N, which is less than half that of most currently marketed pen injectors. The device also provides simple push-to-reset functionality, with an average reset force of about 3N.

Importantly, TouStar® offers a new delivery solution that has the potential to significantly reduce the environmental impact of basal insulin therapy. TouStar® concentrated insulin reduces waste by decreasing the number of cartridges needed by approximately one third in comparison with a regular strength insulin. And because the TouStar® pen is reusable for up to three years, much less waste is created for administration of each cartridge than with an equivalent disposable pen. Only one plastic component is needed in a Toujeo® dedicated cartridge, rather than thirteen in a disposable pen. This reduces material and energy consumed in both manufacture and cold chain distribution of the product. These environmental benefits have been recognised in two prestigious eco-design award wins. TouStar received a Green GOOD DESIGN® Award from the Chicago Athenaeum and the PharmaPack Innovation Award for Eco-Design in 2022.