Rectal Suppository Applicator Improves Therapeutic Efficiency

A novel applicator offers a dramatic improvement in the quality of life to the millions of people who require suppository medication therapy.

The Sephure disposable suppository applicator is an anatomically designed device intended for patients prescribed rectal suppository medication. Using the applicator, patients can quickly, hygienically, and comfortably administer rectal suppositories. The inner structure of the applicator has vents to allow air to exit the body during administration and withdrawal of the applicator into the rectum. The applicator also positions suppositories further into the rectum, away from the nerves that signal the body to expel the contents of the bowel. The device comes in two sizes to fit the most common suppository shapes.

Suppository medication is designed to melt at body temperature; as a result, when the medication has melted and the trapped air is expelled from the body, the medication leaks. By allowing the air to escape, the Sephure applicator eliminates suction effect, leaving the suppository properly placed away from the nerve endings that signal the body to expel the contents of the bowel. As a result, the person does not feel the medication while it melts and is absorbed by the body, and the feeling of urgency to expel the medication is eliminated. When used for administering a laxative suppository, better contact with the lining of the rectum results in a better end result.

The Sephure disposable suppository applicator was designed by Jennifer Davagian Ensign, who was diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) more than 20 years ago and lived with infrequent flares. Depositing a suppository dose took her 30–45 minutes lying in the prone position, inserting the suppository with her finger, and resisting the urgency to release the medication. Upon standing, she needed to wear protective undergarments since the medicine leaked outside the body. Within a few months the regimen became too burdensome and she abandoned her treatment; a serious health scare then led her to create the device.

“At first it was difficult talking about something so private in a public forum,” said Ensign, who is also the CEO of Cristcot (Concord, MA, USA), the company she founded to manufacture the Sephure applicator. “By telling my story I hope to create a new standard of care and in the process, improve the quality of life of others who struggle with the difficulties of suppository treatment.”

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