What does the 60 IU or 80 IU printed on a pen actually mean?

Very often it describes only the maximum single dose the dial can select, or a vendor-specific scale for one particular drug — not the amount of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) inside the cartridge and not the liquid volume displaced per dial click. A generic pen carrying a different formulation can move exactly the same mechanism while the printed figure no longer maps to what is delivered. IncreSure treats that figure as a mechanism label, not a dose of your API.

Dose Metrology · Pen Mechanics · API-per-Increment

API per pen increment — verified, not assumed from the 60 IU / 80 IU label

Q: How does IncreSure work out the real API per increment?

IncreSure characterises the pen's true mechanics — piston travel per increment, displaced liquid volume, maximum selectable setting, total usable stroke, starting piston position and terminal residual volume — and maps them onto the controlled total API content held in a Liquiprester cartridge to set a target: target API per characterised increment equals the measured API recoverable over the deliverable stroke (not the amount loaded) divided by the characterised deliverable increments. It then verifies delivered output experimentally — at the initial increments, mid-stroke, the final increments, across cartridge-geometry bands, across compatible pen models and after the defined storage or temperature cycle, treating the injection system and the container/fluid path together as one system (an ISO 11608-style component-interaction approach). The specific per-pen characterisation figures are held by Panacea Bio Chem.

Q: If cartridge bore varies, does the dose per increment drift?

The design compensates for it: a wider bore holds more completion liquid at a slightly lower concentration but displaces more liquid per millimetre of piston travel; a narrower bore holds less liquid at a higher concentration but displaces less per millimetre. This is a designed compensating relationship, not a claim that geometry alone guarantees identical output. It holds only under stated assumptions — consistent effective stroke length, sufficiently uniform bore, complete homogenisation, characterised dead volume, negligible or quantified API adsorption and linear pen-piston travel — so IncreSure verifies delivered output experimentally across the bore band rather than trusting the cancellation.

Q: Who developed IncreSure?

IncreSure was developed by Bogdan Dicoias and is the intellectual property of Panacea Bio Chem Ltd, alongside Liquiprester, PleniDose, ElimiVoid, Cryoviscous and the S3Pulse control algorithm.

The glass may vary. The dose must not.

IncreSure™ is the Panacea Bio Chem layer that maps and verifies how much active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) a dosing pen actually delivers per increment — by characterising the pen's real mechanics rather than trusting the number printed on the dial.

A Panacea Bio Chem metrology brief · by Bogdan Dicoias, Scientist · Subject: verified API per pen increment · Layer: IncreSure (Panacea) · Nothing here is medical advice.

Pen parameters characterised

Controlled total API per cartridge

Measured API ÷ characterised increments

Bore-compensation assumptions verified

A metered dosing pen with a graduated dial — the mechanism whose real travel and displaced volume IncreSure characterises to verify API per increment; a Panacea Bio Chem technology by Bogdan Dicoias — A metered pen's dial reads in mechanism steps, not in a dose of *your* API. **IncreSure™** characterises the mechanics behind the dial and maps each step to the fixed total API in the cartridge. A Panacea Bio Chem technology by **Bogdan Dicoias**.

Direct answer

The “60 IU” or “80 IU” figure printed on a generic pen usually describes only the maximum single dose the dial can select — or a vendor-specific scale set for one particular drug — not the API held in the cartridge and not the liquid volume displaced per click. IncreSure™ ignores that figure as a dose and instead characterises the pen's real mechanics: piston travel per increment, displaced liquid volume, maximum selectable setting, total usable stroke, starting piston position, terminal residual volume and actual delivered output. It then maps those onto the controlled total API content loaded into a Liquiprester™ cartridge — taking the API recoverable over the deliverable stroke, not the amount loaded, so that the target API per characterised increment = measured API recoverable over the deliverable stroke ÷ characterised deliverable increments. IncreSure then verifies delivered output experimentally — at the initial increments, mid-stroke, the final increments, across different cartridge-geometry bands, across different compatible pen models and after the defined storage / temperature cycle — treating the injection system and the container / fluid path together as one system (an ISO 11608-style component-interaction approach). The specific per-pen characterisation figures are proprietary to Panacea Bio Chem.

IncreSure — at a glance

Class: A dose-metrology & verification layer for pen-delivered liquid cartridges
What it does: Maps the real API delivered per increment, independent of the dial's printed figure
Method: Characterises seven pen parameters, divides measured API recoverable over the deliverable stroke by characterised deliverable increments, then verifies delivered output experimentally
Geometry handling: Wider-bore/lower-concentration ↔ narrower-bore/higher-concentration is a designed compensating relationship IncreSure verifies experimentally — not a geometry-only guarantee
Pairs with: Liquiprester™ cartridge · PleniDose™ gantry fill · ElimiVoid™ void completion
Figures: Per-pen characterisation tables held by Panacea Bio Chem — not published here
Status: Beneficial-science framing · nothing here is medical advice

1. Why the “60 IU” / “80 IU” pen label misleads

A dosing pen is a beautifully simple machine: turn the dial, a leadscrew advances the piston by a set distance, and a measured slug of liquid is pushed out. The number you dial is a count of mechanism steps — how far the screw will travel — and the “60 IU” or “80 IU” stamped on the body is most often just the largest number that dial can reach in a single turn, the pen's maximum selectable setting.

Depending on the manufacturer, that “60 IU” or “80 IU” figure may describe the maximum selectable setting, a vendor-specific graduation system, or a drug-specific calibration — three quite different things wearing the same stamp. So IncreSure™ verifies the actual device mechanics rather than interpreting the printed designation at face value.

That count was calibrated by the original maker for one specific drug at one specific concentration. The unit — the “IU”, or International Unit¹ — is a measure of biological activity that is defined separately for every substance: an IU of one molecule is a completely different mass and volume from an IU of another¹. Put a different formulation into the same body of pen and the dial still counts steps faithfully, but the printed figure no longer maps to what leaves the needle. The mechanism is honest; the label has quietly stopped describing your dose.

The dial counts steps of a screw. It was never a promise about the molecule in the glass.

Three assumptions hide inside that printed figure, and IncreSure declines all three:

“The dial figure is the cartridge content.” It is not — it is the top selectable setting of the mechanism, unrelated to how much API was loaded.
“One dial step means one fixed volume.” The volume displaced per step depends on the bore of the cartridge, which varies within manufacturing tolerance from unit to unit.
“Every step delivers, start to finish.” Real pens have a starting piston position and a terminal residual — a dead volume that can never be expelled — so only part of the stroke is usable.

2. The real pen mechanics IncreSure characterises

Rather than trust the dial, IncreSure treats each pen + cartridge as an instrument to be characterised. Seven measurements describe it completely:

The seven parameters that define a pen's true delivery
Parameter	What it is	Why it matters
Piston travel / increment	Linear distance the piston advances per dial click (mm)	Sets how much stroke each increment consumes
Displaced liquid volume	Volume pushed out per increment (µL)	Travel × bore cross-section — the actual slug delivered
Maximum selectable setting	Largest single dose the dial can reach	This is what the “60/80 IU” label usually names
Total usable stroke	Distance from start position to terminal residual (mm)	Defines how many increments are actually deliverable
Starting piston position	Where the piston sits at first use	Sets the top of the usable stroke
Terminal residual volume	Dead volume that cannot be expelled (µL)	Trims the bottom of the usable stroke
Actual delivered output	Measured liquid genuinely leaving the needle per increment	The ground truth every mapping is checked against

With those in hand, a first estimate of how many increments a cartridge could yield — the stroke ratio — falls straight out of the arithmetic. But that ratio is only the theoretical count; the number that actually matters is established by measurement:

theoretical increment count = ( total usable stroke ) ÷ ( piston travel per increment ) … the stroke ratio predicts the theoretical increment count; IncreSure™ establishes characterised usable increments through measured output across the complete deliverable stroke.

Usable increments cannot be computed from stroke alone. The stroke ratio predicts the theoretical increment count; IncreSure establishes characterised usable increments through measured output across the complete deliverable stroke, because real delivery falls short of the arithmetic for concrete, physical reasons: last-dose limitation, mechanism backlash, plunger compression, priming, incomplete final increments, the terminal residual and stopper / piston compliance. Each trims genuinely deliverable output below the theoretical figure — which is why the usable increment count is characterised against measured output rather than counted from travel alone.

3. Mapping increments onto the measured recoverable API

Here is the pivot. In a Liquiprester™ cartridge the total API content is controlled and known, placed there under controlled fill by the PleniDose™ gantry →. But the figure that sets the dose is not the amount loaded into the cartridge — it is the API measured as recoverable over the deliverable stroke, after the last-dose, residual and compliance losses above are accounted for. IncreSure divides that recoverable quantity by the increments the pen can genuinely deliver to set a target:

target API per characterised increment = ( measured API recoverable over the deliverable stroke ) ÷ ( characterised deliverable increments ) — the numerator is the API recoverable over the deliverable stroke, not the total loaded, then the target is verified at the beginning, the middle and the end of the stroke.

The relation above is a target with measured inputs, not an exact identity. IncreSure then verifies the delivered output experimentally rather than assuming it: at the initial increments, the middle of the stroke, the final increments, across different cartridge-geometry bands, across different compatible pen models, and after the defined storage / temperature cycle. This is a system-level verification of the injection system together with the container / fluid path — consistent with an ISO 11608-style component-interaction approach, where the pen and the cartridge are characterised as one interacting system rather than in isolation.

The figure below shows the idea end-to-end: the printed dial figure is set aside; the usable stroke is measured between the starting position and the terminal residual; that stroke is divided into characterised increments; and the measured recoverable API is mapped across them and verified experimentally.

Figure 1 — illustrative. The dial figure is set aside; the usable stroke is measured between the starting piston position and the terminal residual, divided into characterised increments, and the measured recoverable API is mapped across them and verified experimentally. Real per-pen figures are held by Panacea Bio Chem. IncreSure™, by Bogdan Dicoias.

4. By design: bore variance is compensated — and verified

A fair objection: glass cartridges are not identical. Their internal bore varies within manufacturing tolerance, and a wider or narrower barrel changes both how much liquid the cartridge holds and how much each millimetre of piston travel pushes out. Surely that makes the dose per increment drift from unit to unit?

IncreSure answers this with a designed compensating relationship — not a claim that geometry alone guarantees identical output. The design rationale is a small, satisfying piece of geometry. Hold the controlled total API content and the effective homogeneous metering length — the usable cylindrical region of the barrel over which delivery is homogeneous, bounded by the start position, terminal residual, shoulder geometry and bore-uniformity caveats listed below, not the raw fill — constant, and let the bore vary:

A wider bore holds more completion liquid, so the same fixed API sits at a slightly lower concentration — but that wider barrel also displaces more liquid per millimetre of travel.
A narrower bore holds less liquid at a higher concentration — but it displaces less per millimetre.

The two effects are the same effect wearing two hats, because both scale with the barrel's cross-sectional area A = π·(bore/2)². Concentration falls as area rises; displaced volume per increment rises with area. Multiply them to get API per increment and the area term cancels:

API / increment = concentration × displaced volume = ( total API ÷ (A × effective metering length) ) × ( A × travel ) = total API × ( travel ÷ effective metering length ) — independent of bore area A.

What survives is only the fraction of the stroke each increment represents. So, under the assumptions below, each increment is designed to carry the intended fraction of the total API whether the glass ran wide or narrow — the aim captured in the product line, the glass may vary, the dose must not. Crucially, IncreSure does not treat this geometric cancellation as a guarantee on its own: it is a designed relationship that IncreSure verifies experimentally, because the cancellation holds only where these conditions are met:

Consistent effective stroke length from unit to unit.
Sufficiently uniform bore along the metering region of the barrel.
Complete homogenisation of the recoverable API through the fill.
Characterised dead volume (start position and terminal residual known).
Negligible or quantified API adsorption to the glass and closure.
Linear pen-piston travel across the usable stroke.

Where any assumption is not met, geometry alone would not preserve the dose — which is exactly why IncreSure verifies delivered output experimentally across the bore band rather than trusting the cancellation.

The table below makes the design rationale concrete with two illustrative cartridges built to the same effective metering length and the same total API:

Illustrative — two bores, one API-per-increment
Quantity	Narrow bore	Wide bore
Bore diameter (relative)	1.00×	1.10×
Cross-section area A	1.00×	1.21×
Completion liquid held	1.00×	1.21× (more)
Concentration (fixed API ÷ volume)	1.00×	0.83× (lower)
Displaced volume per increment	1.00×	1.21× (more)
API per increment (conc × displaced)	1.00×	1.00×

Relative figures illustrate the designed compensation only; they are not a specification, and the cancellation is verified experimentally rather than assumed. The specific bores, tolerances and fill geometry are held by Panacea Bio Chem.

5. Where IncreSure sits in the Liquiprester stack

IncreSure is the metrology conscience of a wider architecture. A cartridge is filled to a target primary aliquot within a defined process tolerance, at a controlled total API content, by the shared PleniDose™ gantry; its front void is completed — without moving the plunger or changing API-per-increment — by ElimiVoid™; and the whole cartridge is brought to a near-airless, oxygen-depleted and argon-conditioned internal environment with no visible air bubble by the Panacea stack — degassing, argon conditioning and filling the geometric void with liquid rather than a compressible gas pocket. IncreSure is what then verifies that the increments a pen selects still map cleanly onto that fixed API.

Because ElimiVoid completes the void without withdrawing API or moving the rear plunger, the fixed total API — the numerator in every IncreSure mapping — is left untouched. The layers are designed to hold hands: fill it precisely, complete it without disturbing the dose, keep it near-airless with no visible air bubble, then map and verify what each increment carries. The finished result is the Liquiprester™ liquid cartridge.

Liquiprester™ combines Cryoviscous™ conditioning, ElimiVoid™ completion, OxyDeplete™ degassing, ArgonLock™ argon conditioning, RedoxVault™ formulation protection, PleniDose™ automation and IncreSure™ dose mapping into one controlled liquid-cartridge architecture.

Cryoviscous™ ElimiVoid™ OxyDeplete™ ArgonLock™ RedoxVault™ PleniDose™ Liquiprester™

6. Panacea's contribution

Panacea Bio Chem researches dose fidelity as an ongoing programme, of which IncreSure is the metrology arm. The team's position is that a dose is only as trustworthy as the weakest assumption between the cartridge and the needle — and that the printed dial figure is exactly such an assumption. IncreSure's answer is to replace it with measurement: characterise the mechanics, map them onto a fixed and known total API, and verify the result against actual delivered output.

Panacea Bio Chem's contribution with IncreSure is this mapping discipline: taking a pen whose dial speaks in mechanism steps, characterising its true travel and displaced volume, and tying each verified increment to the fixed total API in a Liquiprester cartridge — while showing that ordinary bore variance cancels itself out rather than blurring the dose. The specific characterisation figures, per-pen tables and increment counts are held in-house.

What Panacea will state plainly is the boundary: the precise per-pen characterisation data, the mapping parameters and the fixed-API values that make IncreSure repeatable are a proprietary secret held by Bogdan Dicoias and not disclosed. The method is described here; the numbers stay in-house.

IncreSure™ is a proprietary Panacea Bio Chem dose-metrology technology developed and invented by Bogdan Dicoias. Its per-pen characterisation parameters and mapping figures are not publicly disclosed.

7. Where it helps most — application fields

Characterisation of generic pen mechanisms paired with cartridge formulations — where a generic pen mechanism built for one drug is characterised against a different molecule and the printed IU scale no longer maps to the payload.
Multi-peptide liquid cartridges — a Liquiprester™ blend where each verified increment must carry a known, even fraction of a fixed multi-component API load.
Low-volume, high-value actives — potent molecules dosed in microlitres, where terminal residual and start position materially change how many usable increments a cartridge really yields.
Cartridge-to-cartridge consistency across a bore tolerance band — using the self-cancelling geometry so that units drawn from a normal manufacturing spread still share one API-per-increment.
Instrument-fill traceability — closing the loop with the PleniDose™ gantry fill record and the S3Pulse™ biointegrity engine, so the numerator (fixed total API) and the divisor (verified increments) are both documented.

8. Precedent — metrology has always beaten the label

The habit of trusting a measurement over a marking is old and hard-won. The International Unit¹ itself was created precisely because a milligram of one biological preparation was not a milligram of another — activity had to be pinned to a reference standard, not a mass on a label. Legal metrology grew up around the same lesson: a “pint” glass earns a verification stamp only after it is measured, because the word alone guarantees nothing about the volume. Even the litre was once defined by a physical artefact and later re-defined against a measured cube of pure water², when the artefact proved less exact than the measurement.

IncreSure stands squarely in that tradition. A pen's dial is a marking; the delivered dose is a measurement. Panacea Bio Chem's choice — like every good metrologist before it — is to trust the second and verify the first. Measure the increment; do not take the label's word for it.

Frequently asked

What does the “60 IU” or “80 IU” on a pen actually mean?
Usually it is only the maximum single dose the dial can select, or a vendor-specific scale for one particular drug — not the API inside the cartridge and not the volume displaced per click. IncreSure treats it as a mechanism label, not a dose of your molecule.

How does IncreSure work out the real API per increment?
It characterises the pen's true mechanics — piston travel per increment, displaced volume, maximum selectable setting, total usable stroke, starting piston position and terminal residual — and maps them onto the controlled total API content in a Liquiprester cartridge to set a target: target API per characterised increment = measured API recoverable over the deliverable stroke ÷ characterised deliverable increments — the numerator is the API recoverable over the deliverable stroke, not the amount loaded. It then verifies delivered output experimentally — at the initial increments, mid-stroke, the final increments, across cartridge-geometry bands, across compatible pen models and after the defined storage / temperature cycle. The specific per-pen figures are proprietary to Panacea Bio Chem.

If cartridge bore varies, does the dose per increment drift?
The design compensates for it: a wider bore holds more liquid at lower concentration but displaces more per millimetre; a narrower bore holds less at higher concentration but displaces less. That compensating relationship is built in — but IncreSure does not treat geometry alone as a guarantee. It holds only under stated assumptions (uniform bore, complete homogenisation, characterised dead volume, linear travel, negligible or quantified adsorption, consistent stroke length), so IncreSure verifies delivered output experimentally across the bore band rather than trusting the cancellation.

Who developed IncreSure?
IncreSure was developed by Bogdan Dicoias and is the intellectual property of Panacea Bio Chem Ltd — alongside Liquiprester™, PleniDose™, ElimiVoid™, Cryoviscous™ and the S3Pulse™ control algorithm.

Trending in the field

A glass cartridge with its sliding piston — the geometry whose bore variance IncreSure counterbalances so each increment carries a known fraction of the fixed total API; a Panacea Bio Chem technology by Bogdan Dicoias — The glass itself. Bore varies within tolerance, yet **IncreSure™** maps each increment to the same fraction of the fixed total API — the geometry cancels. A Panacea Bio Chem technology by **Bogdan Dicoias**.

References & further reading

International Unit (IU) — a unit of biological activity defined separately per substance. Wikipedia.
Litre — historical artefact definition and its re-definition against measured pure water. Wikipedia.
Insulin pen — dial-a-dose metering mechanism and dose selection. Wikipedia.
Metrology — the science of measurement and its role beyond nominal labels. Wikipedia.
Dead volume — residual fluid that cannot be expelled from a container or system. Wikipedia.