Dispenser for pharmaceuticals having patient compliance monitor apparatus

• US 4,034,757 A
• Filed: 06/16/1976
• Issued: 07/12/1977
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/1976
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: ALZA Corporation (Johnson & Johnson)
• Original Assignee: ALZA Corporation (Johnson & Johnson)
• Inventors: Glover, Frederick Flagg
• Primary Examiner(s): Medbery, Aldrich F.
• Application Number:
  US05/696,664
• Time in Patent Office: 391 Days
• Field of Search: 128/260, 128/213, 222/30, 222/36, 222/70, 222/153
• US Class Current: 604/404
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 1/00 Containers specially adapted for medical or pharmaceutical purposes capsules or the like for oral use A61J3/07; specially adapted for surgical or diagnostic appliances or instruments A61B50/30; containers for radioactive substances G21F5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 2200/30 Compliance analysis for taking medication
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 7/0418 with electronic history memory
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 7/0436 resulting from removing a drug from, or opening, a container
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 7/0481 working on a schedule basis

Abstract

An impervious housing having a compartment for a pharmaceutical product and an independent compartment for containing circuitry that senses and records when a patient administers the pharmaceutical contained in the first compartment. The circuit includes a clock which produces a pulse each hour and an addressable memory coupled to the clock so that the address is changed each hour. Sensors for determining when the cap is removed from the first compartment and when the housing is inverted, the output of the sensors being coupled to a register at the input of the circuitry so that if a patient has administered the pharmaceutical since the last clock pulse, a binary signal indicative of that fact will be transferred from the register to the memory upon occurrence of a succeeding clock pulse.

Claims

1. Apparatus for monitoring patient compliance with dosage instructions of a pharmaceutical comprising an impervious housing defining first and second mutually independent compartments, said housing including a neck defining a passage communicating with said first compartment to permit dispensing of the pharmaceutical from the first compartment through said passage, a cap removably engagable with said neck for selectively sealing said passage and said first compartment, an electronic counter disposed in said second compartment and having first and second inputs, said counter recording as an event only simultaneous excitation of said inputs, means responsive to removal of said cap for exciting said first input, and means responsive to movement of said housing to a position at which said neck is below said first compartment for exciting said second input so that said counter records the occurrence of each event when the housing is inverted with the cap removed.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said electronic counter includes a memory having a plurality of addressable cells, timing means for producing a sequence of timing pulses at a preselected repetition rate, means connected to said timing means for addressing a unique cell in said memory in response to the occurrence of each said pulse, and gate means for connecting said first and second inputs to said memory in response to the occurrence of an event so as to afford storage of an event in the memory at an address corresponding to the time of occurrence of the event.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said first input exciting means includes a permanent magnet disposed in said cap so as to produce a magnetic flux field on said housing when said cap is engaged on said neck, and flux sensitive means in said housing within said flux field for effecting excitation of said first input when the magnetic flux is removed from last said means in response to removal of the cap from the neck.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein said flux sensitive means comprises a magnetic reed switch having a pair of contacts that operate in response to impingement of magnetic flux thereon.

5. Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein said permanent magnet is of annular form and circumscribes said neck when said cap is engaged on said neck.

6. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said second input exciting means includes a gravity responsive switch switchable from a first electrical condition when said neck is above said first compartment to a second electrical condition when said neck is below said first compartment.

8. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said second compartment is of generally U-shaped configuration having first and second upright cavities and a lateral cavity extending between said upright cavities and establishing communication therebetween, said first compartment being disposed intermediate said upright cavities, said electronic counter having a first portion and a second portion disposed in respective said upright cavities, and a battery for energizing said electronic counter disposed in said lateral cavity.

7. Apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said gravity responsive switch includes a mercury switch having first and second contacts and a quantity of mercury, said mercury bridging said first contacts when said neck is above said first compartment.