Robotic drug dispensing system
First Claim
1. An automated robotic dispensing system for introducing a unit drug dose from a vial having a top diaphragm pierceable by a needle into a container of solute therefor, comprising:
- a filling station enclosed in a filtered environment, the filling station comprising a manipulating robot, a vial dispenser, a container dispenser, at least a needle pick-up location of a needle dispenser, a processing unit, a loading location of an output for processed containers, and a discard location;
the robot being programmed to;
(a) receive a said vial containing a said unit drug dose from a vial pick-up location of the vial dispenser and deliver it to a vial reception location of the processing unit;
(b) receive a said container from the container dispenser at a container pick-up location and deliver the container to a container reception location of the processing unit;
(c) receive a said needle from the needle dispenser at the needle pick-up location and deliver the needle to a needle holder of the processing unit;
(d) receive the processed container from the processing unit and deliver it to the output;
(e) receive the empty vial from the processing unit and deliver it to the output; and
(f) receive the used needle from the processing unit and discard it to a discard location;
the vial dispenser being adapted to hold a plurality of vials each containing a said drug dose and to deliver them sequentially to the vial pick-up location;
the container dispenser being adapted to hold a plurality of containers each container containing solute for the drug dose and to deliver them sequentially to the container pick-up location;
the needle dispenser being adapted to hold a plurality of double-ended needles and to deliver them sequentially to the needle pick-up location;
the processing unit including means for moving a said vial, a said needle and a said corresponding container into fluid communication through the needle, and means for flowing fluid from the container to the vial and vice-versa to dissolve the unit drug dose and transfer the solution to the container.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The invention concerns the automated robotic system for dispensing drugs from vials into liquid containers such as IV bags or syringes. A robot selects a vial and a suitable container and transports them to a processing station together with a needle which may be double-ended. At the processing station the contents of the vial are transferred into the container. Some of the contents of the container may be transferred into the vial in order to reconstitute and/or wash out the vial contents and agitation may be provided for the vial. Various additional devices may be provided such as a decapping device for the vials, an alcohol swabbing station for swabbing the top of a vial and/or the input port of a IV bag or syringe. Moreover, a label printer may be provided so that the robot may deliver a label with the finally processed IV bag and empty vial to a verification station. When IV bags are used, the invention may feature a conveyor of trays of the bags to a pick-up station of the robot. The trays add rigidity to the bags so that they can be handled by the robot. To present needles to the robot, needle trays may be used in which needles lie in parallel one to the other in pick-up position. The robot may have gripping fingers having one gripping surface for gripping a vial and another gripping surface for gripping a needle or solution container. The containers may be provided with shaped portions for gripping by either of the robot gripping surfaces. Vial dispensers may be a chute or a series of chutes which present vials to specific pick-up locations from which the robot can select a vial in accordance with prescription data.
387 Citations
41 Claims
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1. An automated robotic dispensing system for introducing a unit drug dose from a vial having a top diaphragm pierceable by a needle into a container of solute therefor, comprising:
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a filling station enclosed in a filtered environment, the filling station comprising a manipulating robot, a vial dispenser, a container dispenser, at least a needle pick-up location of a needle dispenser, a processing unit, a loading location of an output for processed containers, and a discard location;
the robot being programmed to;(a) receive a said vial containing a said unit drug dose from a vial pick-up location of the vial dispenser and deliver it to a vial reception location of the processing unit; (b) receive a said container from the container dispenser at a container pick-up location and deliver the container to a container reception location of the processing unit; (c) receive a said needle from the needle dispenser at the needle pick-up location and deliver the needle to a needle holder of the processing unit; (d) receive the processed container from the processing unit and deliver it to the output; (e) receive the empty vial from the processing unit and deliver it to the output; and (f) receive the used needle from the processing unit and discard it to a discard location; the vial dispenser being adapted to hold a plurality of vials each containing a said drug dose and to deliver them sequentially to the vial pick-up location; the container dispenser being adapted to hold a plurality of containers each container containing solute for the drug dose and to deliver them sequentially to the container pick-up location; the needle dispenser being adapted to hold a plurality of double-ended needles and to deliver them sequentially to the needle pick-up location; the processing unit including means for moving a said vial, a said needle and a said corresponding container into fluid communication through the needle, and means for flowing fluid from the container to the vial and vice-versa to dissolve the unit drug dose and transfer the solution to the container. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. An automated process for introducing, in a filling station in a filtered environment, a unit drug dose from a vial having a top diaphragm pierceable by a needle into a container of solute therefore, the filling station comprising a manipulating robot, a vial dispenser, a container dispenser, at least a needle pick-up location of a needle dispenser, a processing unit, a loading location of an output for processed containers and a discard location, comprising the steps of:
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sequentially delivering a said vial to a pick-up location of the vial dispenser which is adapted to hold a plurality of vials each containing a said unit drug dose; sequentially delivering a said container to a pick-up location of the container dispenser which is adapted to hold a plurality of containers containing solute for the unit drug dose; and sequentially delivering a said needle to the pick-up location of the needle dispenser which is adapted to hold a plurality of double-ended needles; and the robot receiving a said vial containing a said unit drug dose from the vial pick-up location of the vial dispenser and delivering it to a vial reception location of the processing unit; the robot receiving a said container from the container dispenser at the container pick-up location and delivering the container of a container reception location of the processing unit; the robot receiving a said needle from the needle dispenser at the needle pick-up location and delivering the needle to a needle holder of the processing unit; at the processing unit, moving a said vial, a said needle and a said corresponding container into fluid communication through the needle, and flowing fluid from the container to the vial and vice-versa to dissolve the unit drug dose and transfer the solution to the container; the robot receiving the processed container from the processing unit and delivering it to the output conveyor; the robot receiving the empty vial from the processing unit and delivering it to the output; and the robot receiving the used needle from the processing unit and discarding it to a discard location. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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Specification