Patient Experience

IDEO & Eli Lilly

Device design for injected medicines

Role

Design Researcher

Year

2001–2012

Impact

This injector has helped millions of patients manage life-altering diseases.

Design Challenge: create a paradigm-changing injector that inspires confidence in patients and trust in Lilly. Project began 2001 with primary design research; the first therapy was released in 2015.

Result: patients accepted a weekly injection because it minimized discomfort and provided control.

Lilly’s product pipeline was expanding to protein-based therapeutics for a dozen disease states, all of which had to be injected to bypass the digestive system. Each drug had different requirements, such as user context, dose, viscosity, stability, and storage.

My small team researched patient experiences across five serious diseases and proposed the development of a design platform — two injector mechanisms that would support the pipeline, with industrial design changing per drug category to address specific user needs for interaction. This long-term strategy created a consistent brand expression and provided options to the business units.

After years of iterations, user testing, and FDA approvals, Trulicity was the first therapeutic in the new auto-injector, released in 2015. Taltz was marketed in 2016 and won gold in the Medical Design Excellence Awards in 2018. I am proud that this work is having measurable impact at scale.

Hands assembling the Taltz automatic injector and prefilled syringe — Taltz automatic injector and prefilled syringe won a gold in the 2018 Medical Design Excellence Awards — Global Newswire.

Two Trulicity single-dose auto-injector pens — My primary research with patients supported the first single-dose auto injector design that provides visual and auditory feedback throughout the injection process. The design became a platform for Lilly and auto injectors are now a routine experience in millions of lives. See the IDEO case study.

Zepbound single-dose auto-injector pen — My primary research with patients supported the first single-dose auto injector design that provides visual and auditory feedback throughout the injection process. The design became a platform for Lilly and auto injectors are now a routine experience in millions of lives. See the IDEO case study.

Building the research infrastructure

As Design Research Lead, I also created a standard review & approval process for human factors research proposals, and trained IDEO researchers on HIPAA compliance and patient-drug adverse event reporting. Establishing this process opened Lilly’s access to patient-centered research, enabling IDEO to do high-risk, patient-facing research for Lilly going forward.

“I never thought about why I do things until you asked these questions. I understand myself better now!” — Jennifer, patient with severe rheumatoid arthritis

Research mood board exploring emotional themes of chronic illness and self-injection — Jennifer’s collage about the experience of illness and the impact of dependence on medications for daily life. Collage was one of the research techniques I brought to IDEO from art therapy practice.

Hands preparing a prefilled syringe for a home injection — Managing self injections at home for very ill patients is enormously difficult, with high danger of needle sticks.

A patient with severe arthritis demonstrating how she would use a prototype injector with stiff fingers — A patient with severe arthritis evaluating our prototype by demonstrating how she could use it with stiff fingers.

A husband caregiver holding a prototype injector against his wife's thigh through her jeans — A husband caregiver provides feedback on how a prototype injector reduces his anxiety about causing bruising and pain for his wife.