Inhalation device

• US 20070107724A9
• Filed: 02/07/2005
• Published: 05/17/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/1990
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: David Hearne, Michael Davies, Paul Rand, Richard Walker
• Original Assignee: David Hearne, Michael Davies, Paul Rand, Richard Walker
• Inventors: Davies, Michael, Walker, Richard, Hearne, David, Rand, Paul
• Granted Patent: US 7,389,775 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 128/203.120
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 15/0021 Mouthpieces therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 15/0043 Non-destructive separation of the package, e.g. peeling
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 15/0045 using multiple prepacked dosages on a same carrier, e.g. blisters
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 15/0051 the dosages being arranged on a tape, e.g. strips
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 15/0055 the used dosages being coiled
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 15/0068 Indicating or counting the number of dispensed doses or of remaining doses
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 15/0075 on a disc
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 15/0078 on a strip
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2202/064 Powder
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2206/16 Rotating swirling helical flow, e.g. by tangential inflows

Abstract

An inhalation device is described for use with a medicament pack in which at least one container for medicament in powder form is defined between two sheets peelably secured to one another. The device comprises means for peeling the sheets apart at an opening station to open the container; and an outlet, communicating with the opened container, through which a user can inhale medicament in powder form from the opened container.

Claims

1-26. -26. (canceled)

27. A medicament pack adapted for use in an inhalation device which is configured as a strip having a length, said medicament pack comprising a plurality of containers which:

are arranged along the length of the strip, and

each contain an inhalable medicament powder.

28. The pack of claim 27, wherein the containers contain the same inhalable medicament powder.

29. The pack of claim 27, wherein each container contains essentially the same amount of medicament powder.

30. The pack of claim 27, wherein the containers are hermetically sealed.

31. The pack of claim 27, wherein the containers are equi-spaced along the strip length.

32. The pack of claim 27, wherein the spacing between the containers increases along the length of the strip.

33. The pack of claim 27, wherein the strip is a blister strip.

34. The pack of claim 27, wherein the strip comprises a pair of sheet structures which are sealed together in face-to-face relation with the containers being defined between the sheet structures.

35. The pack of claim 34, wherein one of the sheet structures has pockets formed along its length and the other sheet structure covers the pockets, each covered pocket defining one of the containers.

36. The pack of claim 27, wherein the containers have a lengthways dimension and a sideways dimension and wherein the lengthways dimension is smaller than the sideways dimension.

37. The pack of claim 36, wherein the containers have a lengthways dimension and a sideways dimension which is greater that the lengthways dimension and wherein the lengthways spacing between adjacent containers is less than the sideways dimension of the containers.

38. The pack of claim 27, wherein the containers are elongate in a transverse direction to the strip length.

39. The pack of claim 27 which is flexible.

40. The pack of claim 39 which is sufficiently flexible to be able to be wound into a roll.

41. The pack of claim 39 wherein said pack is in a roll state.

42. The pack of claim 27, wherein the strip has a portion which is adapted in use to be separated lengthways from the strip to open the containers.

43. The pack of claim 42, wherein the separable portion is a first portion of the strip and the strip further has a second portion from which the first portion is separable, the containers being defined between the first and second portions.

44. The pack of claim 43, wherein the second portion is formed with a series of recesses along its length in which the inhalable medicament powder is contained and the first portion provides a lid for each of the recesses.

45. The pack of claim 42, wherein the separable portion has first and second ends which are spaced lengthways from one another and the separable portion is separable from the strip by drawing the first end lengthways along the strip towards the second end.

46. The pack of claim 27, wherein each container has:

—

a blind cavity with a closed end and an open end, and

a lid over the open end for closure of the blind cavity to retain the inhalable medicament powder therein.

47. The pack of claim 46, wherein the lids are separable from the containers for opening thereof.

48. The pack of claim 46, wherein the lids are provided in a first portion of the strip and the blind cavities are provided in a second portion of the strip.

49. The pack of claim 48, wherein the first portion of the strip is separable from the second portion to separate the lids from the containers for opening thereof.

50. The pack of claim 49, wherein the first and second portions of the strip are oriented lengthways and the first portion is separable from the second portion lengthways.

51. An inhalation device comprising the medicament pack according to claim 27.

52. The device of claim 51 further comprising an outlet at which a user is able to inhale on the device and an actuating mechanism which is adapted in use to act on the pack to open one of the containers and to position said opened container in flow communication with the outlet so that when the user inhales at the outlet the medicament powder in the opened container is entrained into the user'"'"'s respiratory tract.

53. The device of claim 52, wherein the outlet is a mouthpiece.

54. The device of claim 53 which is hand-held.

55. The device of claim 54, wherein the actuating mechanism is manually-operable.

56. The device of claim 54, wherein the actuating mechanism has an indexing mechanism for indexing the containers into flow communication with the outlet and an opening mechanism for opening the containers.

57. A medicament pack adapted for use in an inhalation device comprising a pair of opposed sheet structures which are peelably sealed together and a plurality of spaced apart, hermetically sealed, containers which each contain an inhalable medicament powder, wherein the sheet structures of the pack are peelable apart to open the containers.

58. An inhalation device containing the medicament pack of claim 57.