Children requiring medication to increase their levels of human growth hormone (hGH) will no longer face the fright and pain of shots, thanks to FDA approval for a Teva Pharmaceuticals' hGH needle-free injection.
Needle-free injectors boost a fine stream of medicated liquid through the skin to the subcutaneous fatty tissue. Then the body absorbs it.
The innovative new injector comes from Antares Pharma, a Swiss-based pharmaceutical company partnering for the first time with Teva.
Teva's lucrative hGH medication Tev-Tropin has been available since 2005, but only through conventional injections. Antares's needle-free injection system, already available in Europe and Asia for insulin administration, makes Teva's new hGH the most child-friendly delivery system on the market.
The United States has the world's largest market for human growth hormone, standing at $1 billion. Tev-Tropin sales in the United States and around the world are in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Teva shares rose 0.7 percent by mid-afternoon on Wall Street following the announcement.