Needle-free injection system
First Claim
1. A needle-free injection device, comprising:
- a piston configured to be advanced during delivery of an injection;
a gas cartridge disposed within a gas cartridge housing and movable relative to the gas cartridge housing from an initial position to an actuating position, in which a pierceable sealed opening at a forward end of the gas cartridge is pierced by a piercing member to enable pressurized gas to be released from the gas cartridge to act upon a rearward end of the piston, thereby driving the piston forward to forcibly expel injectable fluid out through an injection orifice; and
a recoil inhibiter configured to constrain movement of the gas cartridge so that the gas cartridge is movable from the initial position to the actuating position, but is prevented from moving from the actuating position back to the initial position.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A needle-free injection device in which a gas cartridge or other source of pressurized gas is used to advance a piston and forcibly expel injectable fluid out through an injection orifice. When a gas cartridge is used, the gas cartridge may be moveable from an initial position to an actuating position in which gas is released to drive the injection, and a recoil inhibiter may be employed to prevent the gas cartridge from moving back to the initial position. A gas cartridge seal may be disposed on the gas cartridge and moveable with the gas cartridge to seal the gas cartridge against an interior wall of a gas cartridge housing. The needle-free injection device may also be configured so that sealing is compromised upon full advancement of the piston, so as to de-pressurize the device after delivery of an injection.
237 Citations
53 Claims
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1. A needle-free injection device, comprising:
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a piston configured to be advanced during delivery of an injection;
a gas cartridge disposed within a gas cartridge housing and movable relative to the gas cartridge housing from an initial position to an actuating position, in which a pierceable sealed opening at a forward end of the gas cartridge is pierced by a piercing member to enable pressurized gas to be released from the gas cartridge to act upon a rearward end of the piston, thereby driving the piston forward to forcibly expel injectable fluid out through an injection orifice; and
a recoil inhibiter configured to constrain movement of the gas cartridge so that the gas cartridge is movable from the initial position to the actuating position, but is prevented from moving from the actuating position back to the initial position. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A needle-free injection device, comprising,
a housing; -
a piston disposed at least partially within the housing, the piston having a forward end and a rearward end, the piston being configured to advance relative to the housing from a rearward-most position to a forward-most position during delivery of an injection, so as to cause injectable fluid to be expelled out through an injection orifice;
a pressurized gas source configured to deliver pressurized gas to act upon the rearward end of the piston; and
a gas seal at the rearward end of the piston, the gas seal being configured to seal a variable-volume gas chamber defined within the housing between the rearward end of the piston and the pressurized gas source, where the needle-free injection device is configured so that the gas seal is compromised upon advancement of the piston to the forward-most position, so as to de-pressurize the variable-volume gas chamber after delivery of an injection. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A needle-free injection device, comprising:
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a piston configured to be advanced during delivery of an injection;
a gas cartridge disposed within a gas cartridge housing and movable in a forward direction relative to the gas cartridge housing from an initial position to an actuating position, in which a pierceable sealed opening at a forward end of the gas cartridge is pierced by a piercing member to enable pressurized gas to be released from the gas cartridge to act upon a rearward end of the piston, thereby driving the piston forward to forcibly expel injectable fluid out through an injection orifice; and
a gas cartridge seal disposed on the gas cartridge and configured to move with the gas cartridge relative to the gas cartridge housing and sealingly engage an interior wall of the gas cartridge housing to inhibit gas from passing rearward past the gas cartridge seal between the gas cartridge and the gas cartridge housing. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A needle-free injection device, comprising:
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a housing;
a piston disposed at least partially within the housing and configured to be advanced relative to the housing from an initial position to an actuated position during delivery of an injection, the piston including a forward end and a stopper located rearward of the forward end; and
an injectable fluid seal at the forward end of the piston, the injectable fluid seal being configured to seal a variable-volume injectable fluid chamber located forward of the piston, such that injectable fluid is expelled from the variable-volume injectable fluid chamber and out through an injection orifice upon advancement of the piston, where the housing includes an obstruction configured to block the stopper upon advancement of the piston to the actuated position to thereby prevent further advancement of the piston beyond the actuated position. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. A needle-free injection device, comprising:
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a piston configured to be advanced during delivery of an injection; and
a gas cartridge disposed within the needle-free injection device and movable in a forward direction to an actuating position, in which a pierceable sealed opening of the gas cartridge is brought into contact with a piercing member to enable pressurized gas from the gas cartridge to be released and act upon the piston, thereby driving the piston forward to cause injectable fluid to be expelled out of the needle-free injection device through an injection orifice, where the piston and gas cartridge are disposed within a housing assembly including first and second housing pieces that are threadably assembled together so that a toothed surface on the first housing piece engages a toothed surface on the second housing piece, where the toothed surfaces grip one another to inhibit attempts to unthread the first and second housing pieces. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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Specification