More than a million lives have been saved thanks to an innovative syringe designed by a Sussex-based inventor.

Marc Koska had the idea for the K1 syringe in 1984, as the danger of spreading HIV and Aids through sharing needles became known.

The 43-year-old, who left school after A-levels, spent 18 years researching the problem before successfully coming up with a solution.

His K1 syringe costs the same to manufacture as a normal disposable syringe but cannot be reused.

Mr Koska set up Star Syringe in offices above a shop in Forest Row, near Crowborough, in 2001.

He now has 14 companies licensed to manufacture the syringe in a number of developing countries, including Brazil, Nigeria, India, Vietnam and China.

To date, more than 250 million K1 syringes have been made and experts estimate they have saved more than a million people from deadly viruses.

Mr Koska, who is married with three children, said: "This figure was hard to believe at first but obviously it makes my heart swell with pride for what we have achieved here.

"I'm grateful to all our licensees who have kept the humanitarian and commercial vision in mind to support us through good times and bad times.

"I am very proud but this is only the beginning. We are aiming to times this number of lives saved by ten during the next year or so."

Michael Free of Path, an international nonprofit, non-governmental organisation helping improve health in developing countries, said he was delighted with the impact of the K1.

He said: "If, as is likely, about half of all injections in the developing world are unsafe and assuming, conservatively, that one per cent actually transmit infection, then the 250 million safety syringes that Star has distributed are likely to have saved in excess of a million potentially fatal infections of hepatitis B and C or HIV."

Star Syringes recently moved its five-strong team to new offices near Ashdown Forest, a few miles from its old premises.

Mr Koska said: "We needed to grow up as a company.

"For the last three years we have been based above a shop and, as some of our clients and visitors include important health ministers of various countries, we needed to professionalise as a business.

"We are aiming to expand the number of manufacturers to 20 before 2005, which I think we should be able to achieve easily.

"Our plans are then to launch other products using the network of licensees we have now built up.

"We have already unveiled a new product called the K3 syringe, which is designed to stop nurses and other health professionals accidentally sticking themselves with a used needle after treating a patient."

Thursday July 15, 2004