It covers the firm's proprietary technology for the integration of automatic and operator-controlled needle retraction features within the barrel of a prefilled syringe, the release stated.

Getting the patent is further validation of the uniqueness of Unilife's technology, the company said.

The safety syringe maker recently announced it signed a seven-year commercial supply contract with a pharmaceutical company for the Unifill syringe.

Shares of the company are traded on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol UNIS.