FR2662936A1 - ARTICLE CONTAINING A MEDICINAL PRODUCT AND DEVICE THEREFOR. - Google Patents

Abstract

There is provided a medicament-containing article (1) comprising a base member (2) having a plurality of openings extending through one side of the base member to an opposite side of the base member, and a pair of covers (3), (4), each positioned on one of the respective faces of the base element. Each cover has a raised part (6), (7), where they cover each opening so that a respective compartment is defined by each opening and the adjacent raised parts of the covers, the raised parts being able to be at least partially detached from the rest. lids. A certain amount of medicine is contained in each compartment. There is provided an administration device which is adapted to receive an article.

Description

ARTICLE CONTAINING A MEDICINAL PRODUCT AND

DEVICE PROVIDED FOR THIS EFFECT

  The present invention relates to a device by which a medicament in a finely divided solid form can be administered to a patient, or

  the patient can be administered by inhaling the device.

  The invention furthermore relates to a packaging of

drug for its application.

  It is well known to provide a medicament in powder form or in another finely divided form in capsules which are loaded by a patient into a delivery device.

  released from the capsule and inhaled by the patient, usually

  by the clogged, but sometimes through the nose.

  However, the use of capsules

  Various disadvantages, and GB-A-2129691, GB-A-2178965 disclose the use of blister packs for containing the drug, with devices for administering the drug from these blister packs.

  another convenient form of packaging and a

  positive administration using such a condition-

  In particular, it provides a package that can contain a greater number of doses for a given packaging size, with a reduction

  as a result of the size of the administrative

  necessary to handle a packaging having

a given number of doses.

  According to the invention, there is provided an article

  containing a medicament which comprises a defined organ

  at least one compartment, the compartment being formed by at least one cover having an elevated portion

  with which it covers the compartment, the over-

  which can at least be detached at least in part from

  part of the rest of the lid; and a certain amount

  of medicine contained in the compartment.

  According to the invention, there is further provided an article containing a medicament which comprises a

  basic element having a plurality of openings

  passing through it from one face of the base member to an opposite face of the base member; a pair of covers each positioned on one of said respective faces, each cover having a raised portion covering each aperture so that a respective compartment is defined by each aperture and the adjacent raised portions of the covers, the raised portions being be at least partially detached from the rest of the lid; and a certain amount of medicine contained in

each compartment.

  Preferably, the basic element is of shape

  ring, the openings forming a circular arrangement

  The drug preferably comprises a

  Active gredient with a support for this purpose.

  The invention further provides administration devices adapted to receive articles

  containing a drug of the type defined above.

  The devices include a member for separating the raised lid portion (s), and a

  routing element adapted to define a chimney-

  flow through the compartment for

  allow the drug to be inhaled from the dis-

  positive. The invention is further specified by the accompanying drawings, in which:

  FIG. 1 is an exploded view in

  pective presenting the article of the invention; Figure la is a broken view showing part of a modified form of this article; Figure 2 is a perspective view of a delivery device according to the invention with an article containing a drug mounted thereon; FIG. 3 is a view similar to that

  Figure 2 but with part of the

  broken administration to allow other components to be seen;

  FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIGS.

  res 2 and 3, but with omission of a smaller number of components of the delivery device than in Figure 3; FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG.

  4 but presenting the device in a different position

pension;

  Figures 6a, 6b and 6c show the arrangement

  three stages of administration

  successively; and Figure 7 is a vertical section, on an enlarged scale, showing the elevated portions

of the lid that are detached.

  The drawings show an article containing a medicine having several compartments, each closed by a pair of lids having raised lid portions.

  there is only one compartment and the comparator (s)

  timents may have only one lid, with

  one or more raised lid parts.

  Figure 1 presents an article containing

  the drug (1), hereinafter referred to simply as

  which includes a basic element (2), a cover

  key (3) sealed to one face of the base member (2)

  and a lid (4) sealed on the opposite side.

  (2) and the covers (3) and (4) are annular in shape. The element (2) is preferably formed of a

  injection-molded plastic material, and the

  (3) and (4) are preferably formed from a stratum

  sealed cold formed aluminum foil

heat to the element (2).

  The element (2) has a plurality of openings (5) of circular cross-section which extend therethrough from one face to the other. The openings (5) form

  a circular disposition around the element (2).

  Each of the lids has several parts

  (6) and (7), respectively, which are aligned with the openings (5) so that each opening

  has an elevated lid portion immediately

  above and one raised lid immediately below It should be understood that in this context the use of the word "raised" does not denote a particular direction in space, but rather means that each part extends away from the base member (2) Thus, in the orientation shown in Fig. 1, the raised portions of Fig. 3 extend upward, and the raised portions of the cover (4) extend

down.

  Each opening (5), with its parts

  adjacent cover (6) and (7), defines a compartment

  in which a certain amount of medicament is present. This preferably comprises at least one

  active ingredient with a carrier The amount of medication

  in each compartment is preferably selected

  so as to be the one required for a

single dose

  As seen in FIG. 1, the base member (2) is provided with four inwardly directed delivery tabs (8) which serve to orient the container in the delivery device described herein. below. In Fig. 1, the apertures (5) have been presented as being of circular section, with the raised lid portions (6) and (7) being correspondingly circular. Fig. 1a shows a portion of another form of base member (2) which has apertures (5a) which are elongated in the radial direction. This base member used together with lids in the parts

  of raised lid are elongated correspondingly

  The modification presented in the figure

  this advantage over what is pre-

  Figure 1 shows that, for a given opening section, a larger number of openings may be

  housed in a basic element of a given size Typi-

  only 30 circular openings may be accommodated in a base member having an outer diameter of 50 mm, and 50 openings of the same section may be accommodated in a base member of the same size if the openings are elongated as in FIG. Turning now to FIGS. 2 to 5, the container shown in FIG. 1 is received for use in an administration device.

  (10) This includes a fixed frame (12) which is

  Diagrammatically in the form of a rectangular block, although in practice one would use a frame whose shape would be more suitable for handling by a patient. The container (1) is mounted on the frame (12) for rotation by to it with a ratchet wheel (14) which is press-fitted (by means not shown) to the frame and which is provided with four recesses (16), each engaging one

  respective positioning tabs on the recess

  Thus, the rotation of the ratchet wheel (14)

  also causes the container to rotate.

  The ratchet wheel (14) has pawl teeth (18) extending completely around its periphery and some of these teeth are shown in Figure 3. A ratchet (20) of a wheel rotation mechanism (22) is provided. engages successively in each of the teeth (18) The rotation mechanism (22) comprises

  a crank arm (24) which can pivot on the hinge

  sis under the action of a pivot (26) and which ends with a lever (28) by means of which a user can

  rotate the rotation mechanism (22).

  The crank arm (24) carries, between its ends, a pair of blades (30), for example of stainless steel, each having a cutting edge (32).

  blades (30) slip on the outer surfaces

  respective guide plates (34) and (36) extending from the upper and lower surfaces, respectively, of the cross member.

  (38) a bridge (40) attached to the frame.

  The device is provided with a tip (42) which is attached to the arm (24) by a bar (43) and a pair of tension springs (45). An air inlet duct (44) is provided with a an air inlet opening (46) and another opening (48) which is positioned immediately above a location where a compartment containing the drug is aligned with the blades (30), hereinafter called a maneuvering station The conduit (44) is closed at its ends, and does not communicate

directly with the tip (42).

  A second duct (50) is provided having an opening (not shown) directly below the compartment which is the maneuvering station.

  (50) communicates with the tip (42).

  In order to reduce the resistance to inhalation, the nozzle (42) is provided with at least one auxiliary air inlet opening (52). The nozzle is further provided with a gate (54) which acts as a coarse filter and serves to prevent the inhalation of unwanted material while allowing the passage of air and medicine

powdered entrained.

  The operation of the device can be very conveniently understood by considering FIGS. 6a to 6c. In the position shown in FIG. 6a, the lever (24) is rotated in the direction shown by the right arrow, using the lever (FIG. 28) so that the ratchet (20) rotates the ratchet wheel (14) a distance equal to the distance

  annular between the adjacent ratchet teeth (18).

  The importance of this rotation is equal to the annular distance between the adjacent compartments in the container, and serves to bring a fresh compartment to the

maneuver station.

  The lever (24) is then rotated in the opposite direction, as seen in FIG. 6b. This results in the cutting edges (32) of the blades (30) engaging in the respective raised lid portions of the container located at the maneuvering station The springs (45) were stretched under tension as a result of the resistance to movement

  blades (30) (and hence of the bar (43)) which is

  The blades at least partially detach the lid parts from the remainder of the lid, as seen from the enlarged view shown in Fig. 7. The use of the lever gives a mechanical advantage of about 2: 1 with regard to the force required to cause the lid parts to be detached by the blades. As can also be seen from FIG. 7, there is a slight gap between each blade and the respective face of the container, the presence of which increases the cleanliness

cutting.

  The lever is then removed to the position shown in FIG.

  the mouth on the mouthpiece (42) and inhales

  air inwardly through the air inlet opening (46) along the conduit (44), out of the conduit (44) through the opening (48), through the compartment at the maneuvering station (thereby driving the compartment drug), into the conduit (50) through the adjacent opening (not shown) through the conduit (50), and from there through and into the hub (42) In this way, the user inhales air which contains entrained medicine, and the

  auxiliary air flow entering the mouthpiece through

  opening (52) ensures that the resistance to inha-

  lation is not too strong The content of the compartment

  is essentially emptied by this act.

Claims (13)

  1 Article containing a medicinal product that   takes at least one member defining a compartment, the compartment being closed by at least one lid having a raised portion where it covers the compartment,   the raised part being at least partially detached   from the rest of the lid; and a certain amount   of medicine contained in the compartment.   2 Article containing a medicinal product which   a base member having a plurality of apertures extending therethrough from a face of the base member to an opposite face of the base member; a pair of covers each positioned on one of said respective faces, each cover having a raised portion covering each aperture such that a respective compartment is defined by that aperture and the adjacent raised portions of the covers, the raised portions being movable therebetween;   at least partially detached from the rest of the   keys, and a certain amount of medicine contained in each compartment.   An article according to claim 2, wherein the base member is annular in shape, with   the openings forming circular arrangements.   Article according to claim 3, in   which the lids are also annular in shape   lar. An article according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein each aperture has a circular section. he   Article according to any of the claims   cations 2 to 4, wherein each opening has an elongate section.   Article according to any of the claims   cations 2 to 6, wherein the base member is formed of a plastic material.   8 Article according to any one of the   2 to 7, in which the lids are formed an aluminum laminate.   An administration device adapted to receive a drug-containing article according to claim 1, the device comprising a member for detaching the raised lid portion, and   a pathway adapted to define a pathway   airflow through the compartment to allow inhalation of the drug from this compartment. Administration device adapted to receive an article containing a medicament according to   any of claims 2 to 8, the provision   device comprising a separating member of the raised lid parts and the opposite end of a given opening, and a tracking member adapted to define an air flow path through this opening to allow the drug to be inhaled from him.   11 Apparatus according to claim 10, comprising a fixed frame on which is mounted said separating member to define a maneuvering station, the frame being adapted to receive the article containing the drug to index the movement relative to the organ cutting to bring each compartment   said article successively to the maneuvering station.   Device according to claim 11,   wherein said article is mounted so as to   see turning relative to the separator. 13 Apparatus according to any one of   Claims 10 to 12, wherein the separation member   ration includes a pivotally mounted element   pivoting on the chassis and carrying a detent   page to detach at least partially from the rest of the article.   Apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the pivot member is pivotable between a first end position in which the cutting member does not engage said raised lid portions, and a second end position which is reached at the end of the cutting. , and o, after cutting, the pivot element is adapted to adopt a position   intermediate in which said chimney member   defines the path through the opening   from the compartment to the maneuvering station.   An apparatus according to claim 13 or 14, wherein said tracking means comprises an output member for output to a patient of an air entraining the drug, the output member   being mounted on the separating member.   Apparatus according to claim 15, wherein said output member is connected to said cutting member and is resiliently connected to said pivotal element.   Apparatus according to any of claims 10 to 16, wherein said tracking means comprises a conduit adapted to carry   one side of a compartment at the maneuvering station in   communication with the atmosphere, and a second conduit adapted to communicate with the opposite side of said compartment.