Drug delivery device with pre-assembled cartridge

A delivery device for delivering a substance to a treatment site exposed during surgery, the delivery device comprising:

• a body comprising an elongate delivery tip, wherein the body extends from a trailing end to a leading end, the leading end being blunt and comprising a structure to precisely deliver a substance topically to an exposed surface, the body defining a cavity for retaining a pre-assembled cartridge holding a substance;
• a driver for mechanically discharging the substance from the cartridge to the delivery tip, a displaceable plunger biased toward the delivery tip by the driver to act upon the cartridge and adopt a release motion toward the delivery tip such that the displaceable plunger pushes the substance out of the cartridge, the driver acting upon the cartridge such that a portion of the displaceable plunger holds the cartridge in place by surrounding the cartridge on more than one side while the displaceable plunger pushes the substance of the cartridge out of the cartridge;
• a brake mechanism integral to an actuator, which actuates movement of the driver to discharge the substance, the brake mechanism having a braking position in which a retaining member of the brake mechanism acts to restrain the release motion of the driver and a release position in which the brake mechanism does not act to restrain the release motion of the driver, the brake mechanism being movable from the braking position to adopt the release position and from the release position to adopt the braking position, wherein the retaining member acts frictionally on the driver to restrain the release motion of the driver as the driver moves.