Ultrasonic transdermal drug delivery system
First Claim
1. An ultrasonic transdermal drug delivery system comprising:
- (a) a housing;
(b) an ultrasonic transducer assembly mounted in said housing, said ultrasonic transducer assembly including a stimuli transducer and at least one drug delivery transducer, said stimuli and said at least one drug delivery transducer oriented so as to at least partially define a reservoir having an open side for storing a pharmaceutical to be delivered;
(c) a membrane whose porosity is controllable by ultrasonic waves positioned to close the open side of said reservoir;
(d) attachment means for attaching said transdermal drug delivery system to an organism having a skin such that said membrane faces said skin and separates said reservoir from said skin; and
(e) electronic control means coupled to said stimuli transducer and said at least one drug delivery transducer for causing said stimuli transducer to emit ultrasonic stimuli pulses having a frequency for a predetermined period of time and, subsequent to said predetermined period of time, causing said at least one drug delivery transducer to emit variable frequency ultrasonic pumping pulses that cause the pharmaceutical stored in said reservoir to be forcibly moved through said membrane to said skin and into said skin.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Ultrasonic energy is used to release a stored drug and forcibly move the drug through the skin of an organism into the blood stream. A housing (81) includes a cavity (67) defined by an assembly of ultrasonic transducers (65) and separated from the skin by a polymeric membrane (69) that stores the drug to be delivered. The ultrasonic transducer assembly includes a flat, circular ultrasonic transducer (85) that defines the top of a truncated cone and a plurality of transducer segments (87a, 87b, 87c, 87d . . . ) that define the walls of the cone. The resonant frequency of the planar transducer is lower than the resonant frequency of the transducer segments. The planar, flat, circular transducer generates fixed frequency (5 KHz-1 MHz range) ultrasonic stimuli impulses for a predetermined period of time (10-20 seconds). Between the stimuli pulse periods, the transducer segments receive variable frequency ultrasonic pumping pulses. Preferably, the variable frequency ultrasonic pumping pulses lie in the 50 MHz-300 MHz range. The variable frequency ultrasonic pumping pulses are applied to opposed transducer segments. The transducer segments create beams that impinge on the skin at an oblique angle and create a pulsating wave. Further, the variable frequency ultrasonic pumping pulses are applied to opposing transducer segments in a rotating manner to create pulsating waves in the skin in a variety of directions. The stimuli pulses cause the planar transducer to produce an ultrasonic wave that excites the local nerves in the way that trauma (heat, force) excites the local nerves. The nerve excitation opens the epidermal/dermal junction membrane and the capillary endothelial cell joints. The variable frequency ultrasonic pumping pulses cause the transducer segments to produce ultrasonic waves in both the polymeric membrane and the skin. The ultrasonic waves pump the drug first through the polymeric membrane and then through, skin openings into the underlying blood vessels.
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Citations
120 Claims
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1. An ultrasonic transdermal drug delivery system comprising:
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(a) a housing; (b) an ultrasonic transducer assembly mounted in said housing, said ultrasonic transducer assembly including a stimuli transducer and at least one drug delivery transducer, said stimuli and said at least one drug delivery transducer oriented so as to at least partially define a reservoir having an open side for storing a pharmaceutical to be delivered; (c) a membrane whose porosity is controllable by ultrasonic waves positioned to close the open side of said reservoir; (d) attachment means for attaching said transdermal drug delivery system to an organism having a skin such that said membrane faces said skin and separates said reservoir from said skin; and (e) electronic control means coupled to said stimuli transducer and said at least one drug delivery transducer for causing said stimuli transducer to emit ultrasonic stimuli pulses having a frequency for a predetermined period of time and, subsequent to said predetermined period of time, causing said at least one drug delivery transducer to emit variable frequency ultrasonic pumping pulses that cause the pharmaceutical stored in said reservoir to be forcibly moved through said membrane to said skin and into said skin. - 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, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66)
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67. A transdermal drug delivery method comprising the steps of:
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(a) placing a reservoir containing a pharmaceutical on a region of the skin of an organism having a skin; (b) applying ultrasonic stimuli pulses to said skin in the region where said reservoir is placed for a first predetermined period of time; (c) applying variable frequency ultrasonic drug delivery pulses to said skin in said region where said reservoir is placed for a second predetermined period of time subsequent to said first predetermined period of time; and (d) sequentially repeating the steps of applying ultrasonic stimuli pulses followed by the step of applying variable frequency ultrasonic drug delivery pulses to the skin of said organism. - View Dependent Claims (68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120)
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Specification