Griffin Securities - May 2011 UNIS Update - Target Price = $10.50
Unilife Corp. (NASDAQ: UNIS; Stock Twits: $UNIS) is a U.S. based developer, manufacturer and supplier of advanced drug delivery systems with state-of-the-art facilities in Pennsylvania. Established in 2002, Unilife works with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies seeking innovative devices for use with their parenteral drugs and vaccines. Unilife has developed a broad, differentiated proprietary portfolio of its own injectable drug delivery products, including the Unifill® and Unitract® product lines of safety syringes with automatic, operator controlled needle retraction. Unifill represents the world's first prefilled syringe technology integrating safety within the primary drug container. The products are ideally positioned to help pharmaceutical companies maximize the lifecycle of their injectable drugs and enhance patient care. Unifill syringes, together with other devices that are part of the Unilife technology platform, can either be supplied to pharmaceutical customers ready for use, or customized to address the specific requirements of targeted novel drugs. For more information on Unilife, please visit www.unilife.com.
More than two billion prefilled syringes are currently used each year on a global basis and pharmaceutical companies are making the switch to products such as Unilife's safety syringe which are compliant with needle-stick prevention laws (e.g. Federal Needlestick Prevention Act, 2000).
Key differentiating features of Unilife's fully-integrated (within the barrel of the syringe) safety syringes include the following:
- A passive needle retraction system that is activated inside the body;
- Healthcare providers / shot administrators control the speed of needle retraction;
- Auto-disabling prevents re-use or tampering with used syringes.
The market opportunity for prefilled syringes includes 50 drugs (primary anti-coagulant / hematology medications, vaccines, and other biological agents) that are delivered by injection, including an estimated 3 billion prefilled syringes in use by 2012.
Unilife has a distinct advantage with a disruptive technology since there are currently no prefilled syringes to deliver medications with fully-integrated safety features so pharmaceutical companies must add these features - which adds to production / shipping costs and increases the overall packaging size by up to 60%, resulting in both waste disposal and marketing issues.