TERUMO ANNOUNCES COMMERCIAL LAUNCH OF THE IMMUCISE INTRADERMAL INJECTION SYSTEM
July 21, 2025 – Drug Discovery –
Terumo Corporation today announced the commercial launch of its Immucise Intradermal Injection System, which is designed to deliver vaccines and other approved drugs to the dermal layer of the skin, with the potential for vaccines to improve immunogenicity in comparison to subcutaneous and intramuscular injection.
The Immucise Intradermal Injection System is a vertical puncture type intradermal (ID) injection device that is applied perpendicular to the surface of the skin, in the deltoid region. The needle, which has an outside diameter of 0.2mm (33G) and is 1.15mm long, is designed to be retained in the dermal layer during delivery.(2) The system, which is already CE marked, is indicated in the U.S. for intradermal injection of FDA approved drugs for infants aged two months (excluding low birth weight and/or preterm birth) to adults.
The dermis is extremely rich in various resident and recruited types of dendritic cells, which play a critical role in the human immune response by capturing antigens and presenting them to T cells, and ID administration of vaccines can potentially result in quantitatively or qualitatively superior immune responses compared to intramuscular (IM) or subcutaneous (SC) injection. The World Health Organization (WHO) promotes the use of ID administration for certain vaccines (e.g., rabies), and recognizes it as an equally safe and efficacious alternative to IM vaccination.
Furthermore, intradermal tissue is rich in lymphatic capillaries and has unique characteristics, which allow for preferential uptake of 10-100 nanometer particles into lymphatics, leading to efficient accumulation in lymph nodes compared to subcutaneous injections. This enhanced lymphatic transfer improves vaccine efficiency and enables antibody delivery to lymph nodes, potentially boosting anti-PD-L1 antibody efficacy and suppressing tumor growth.
“Intradermal vaccination using the Immucise Intradermal Injection System offers many advantages to vaccine developers, including that it reduces the volume of vaccine used by sixty to eighty percent compared with intramuscular injection, is less costly, and has potential to mitigate vaccine shortages,” said Noritsugu Fujita, Division President, Terumo Pharmaceutical Solutions.
“To assess use of the device by healthcare professionals,” continues Sakiko Shimizu, Senior Principal Scientist, Terumo Corporation. “ID injection using the Immucise Intradermal Injection System was evaluated through a human factor study, which showed no observed usage errors. Effectiveness was also demonstrated with higher success rate of wheal, or bump, formation at the delivery site, and without any of the potential leakage associated with the Mantoux technique, the traditional method of intradermal injection.”
About Terumo Pharmaceutical Solutions Division
Terumo Pharmaceutical Solutions develops patient-oriented parenteral delivery solutions for therapeutic performance and safety. Globally trusted for quality and precision, Terumo offers pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers around the world comprehensive product design and development services as well as a portfolio of injection, infusion, primary packaging, and CDMO solutions.
