Inventor begins marketing safer syringe to health care industry

Feb. 26, 2020

A Sioux Falls man who spent years working on a safer syringe has patented his invention and is starting to market it.

Lance Glammeier was a mechanic and farmer in Colton when a drunken driver hit his vehicle more than 30 years ago. The accident shattered his elbows, hip, knee and ankle, and caused serious injury to his face. After what he calls “a couple hundred surgeries,” he was getting an injection when the needle flew out of his nurse’s hand and nearly struck his doctor in the eye.

“I started thinking about how she looked in the process and said, ‘Let’s get everything out of your hands and give you two hands to control.’ So you can withdraw the medication and uncap the syringe and put it back without touching it, and lock it permanently so everyone is safe.”

He founded Glamme Systems Inc. and began working with an attorney to “scrape the money together” to patent it in three parts.

The idea was to design a way to eliminate awkward controlling issues of handling a syringe with one hand and medication with the other, while pulling back on a plunger to extract the medication.

Glammeier patented the first part of the system in 2006 and competed in the Governor’s Giant Vision competition the following year, placing third.

“I didn’t have everything patented, and I was made a few offers, but I turned them down,” he said.

In August of last year, the patenting process was done. The VialPro allows for complete control of the syringe and cap when drawing medication from a vial or ampoule.

The holding system allows clinicians to keep both hands behind the needle to avoid sticks and provide what Glammeier calls better and safer access to the vial for accurate dosing.

“It controls everything from start to finish,” he said. “The only way to get stuck is if you do it intentionally.”

Here’s a look at how Glammeier’s system works:

By removing what he called the awkward movements of using a syringe, Glammeier said his system also can lessen repetitive motion injuries and dosing errors caused when clinicians have trouble seeing marked lines for amounts.

To use it with a vial, you tip the vial upside down, twist the neck of the vial in the place between the system’s extended holding rods and then extract the fluids or medications. It also can be used with ampoules, or sealed vials.

When the syringe is done being used and capped, a color-coded ring turns green, which means it’s locked.

Glamme Systems has started working with a manufacturer and sales team in Texas and is collaborating with Futurescape 3D Solutions co-owner Rob Hodgdon on business development.

“I contacted him to do prototypes and came back to him to get a more specific design, and at that point, he liked my idea and wanted in,” Glammeier said.

“I have many other ideas, but I want to get these up and going so I can work on others and patent them.”

The company is approaching health systems about using the product.

“We really believe that this product has significant viability in the health care industry, so we wanted to do what we could to help him out,” Hodgdon said.

“Even though Lance has been developing this system for a number of years, he was able to secure the purchase of multiple VialPro systems for a medical laboratory in Georgia. They purchased the device to aid in the reduction of repetitive motion injuries as well as for its safety function. They have been using it for 11 years and have not had a needle stick injury as a result of using VialPro.”

Once people find out about the availability of a system that locks syringes after use, Glammeier said he expects a positive response.

Syringes “end up everywhere,” he added. “Beaches, parking lots, they’re everywhere. Public opinion is going to sell this product once they realize they can have syringes out there that are safer for kids.”

The goal is to drive the price down to where it costs from 5 to 10 cents per syringe, he said.

“I’m not trying to make a big killing on it,” he said. “I want to make a difference.”

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Inventor begins marketing safer syringe to health care industry

A Sioux Falls man who spent years working on a safer syringe has patented his invention and is starting to market it.

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