Method and device for delivering aerosolized medicaments
First Claim
1. A method for producing an aerosolized dose of a medicament for subsequent inhalation by a patient, said method comprising:
- dispersing a preselected amount of the medicament in a powdered form in a high velocity air stream having a volume in the range from 10 ml to 750 ml of gas to produce the aerosolized dose; and
introducing substantially the entire volume of the aerosolized dose into a chamber having an inlet at one end, an open mouthpiece at an opposite end, and a volume in the range from 100 ml to 750 ml, wherein the inlet and mouthpiece are oriented such that medicament entering the chamber through the inlet displaces air initially present in said chamber without substantial loss of medicament through the mouthpiece or within the chamber.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A device for accurately delivering aerosolized doses of a medicament disperses a measured amount of drug in a measured volume of carrier gas and transfers the resulting aerosol to a chamber prior to inhalation by a patient. The chamber is filled efficiently with the aerosol, and inhalation by the patient draws the aerosol dose into the lungs. This is followed by the inhalation of atmospheric air that will push the initial dose well into the lung interiors. The apparatus optimally includes a dose regulator, a counter, a clock, a dose memory and a signal to indicate when a dose is ready for inhalation. Optimal chamber designs are disclosed.
493 Citations
35 Claims
-
1. A method for producing an aerosolized dose of a medicament for subsequent inhalation by a patient, said method comprising:
-
dispersing a preselected amount of the medicament in a powdered form in a high velocity air stream having a volume in the range from 10 ml to 750 ml of gas to produce the aerosolized dose; and introducing substantially the entire volume of the aerosolized dose into a chamber having an inlet at one end, an open mouthpiece at an opposite end, and a volume in the range from 100 ml to 750 ml, wherein the inlet and mouthpiece are oriented such that medicament entering the chamber through the inlet displaces air initially present in said chamber without substantial loss of medicament through the mouthpiece or within the chamber. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. A method for delivering an aerosolized powder medicament to a patient, said method comprising:
-
(a) dispersing a preselected amount of the powder medicament in a high velocity air stream having volume in the range from 10 ml to 750 ml to produce a single aerosolized dose; (b) capturing substantially the entire volume of the aerosolized dose into a chamber having a volume in the range from 100 ml to 750 ml and an open mouthpiece, wherein air initially present in the chamber is displaced without substantial loss of medicament through the mouthpiece and wherein the chamber geometry is such that deposition of medicament against walls within the chamber is minimized; (c) inhaling of the aerosolized dose from the chamber through the mouthpiece by the patient, wherein the patient inhales substantially the entire aerosolized dose followed by ambient air which sweeps the chamber of residual medicament whereby the chamber is refilled with ambient air; and repeating steps (a) through (c) a sufficient number of times to deliver a desired total dosage of the medicament. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. An apparatus for producing aerosolized doses of a dry powder medicament, said apparatus comprising:
-
means for introducing a preselected amount of the dry powder medicament into a predetermined volume of flowing air to produce an aerosolized quantity of medicament; a chamber having an ambient air inlet and a patient mouthpiece; means for transferring substantially the entire aerosolized quantity of medicament from the introducing means to an entry point in the chamber; and an internal baffle within the chamber, wherein the transferring means directs the aerosol axially within the chamber and the internal baffle contains the medicament within the aerosol with in a region between the transferring means and the baffle; wherein the volume and geometry of the chamber are selected so that air initially present in said chamber is displaced without substantial loss of medicament through the mouthpiece or within the chamber. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
-
-
22. An apparatus for producing aerosolized doses of a medicament, said apparatus comprising:
-
means for dispersing a predetermined amount of the medicament in a preselected volume of flowing gas to produce an aerosolized quantity of medicament; a cylindrical chamber having an ambient air inlet at one end and a mouthpiece at the other end; a spacer tube disposed axially in the chamber to help establish the vortical flow pattern; and means for tangentially introducing the aerosolized quantity of medicament from the dispersing means into the chamber so that the medicament will flow along a vortical path in the cylindrical chamber, whereby air is displaced from the chamber without substantial mixing as the chamber is being filled with medicament. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25)
-
-
26. An apparatus for producing aerosolized doses of a powdered medicament, said apparatus comprising:
-
means for dispersing a predetermined amount of the medicament in a preselected volume of flowing gas to produce an aerosolized quantity of medicament; a cylindrical chamber having a tangential ambient air inlet at one end and a mouthpiece at the other end, wherein the dispersing means is connected to the chamber through an inlet which is on the same end as the ambient air inlet and which is axially aligned with the mouthpiece; and an internal baffle disposed transversely within the chamber so that the internal baffle contains the aerosolized medicament within a region between the introducing means and the baffle, wherein the ambient air inlet is disposed tangentially on the chamber between the introducing means and the baffle, whereby inhalation on the mouthpiece will induce a vortical flow of ambient air to sweep medicament past the baffle. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30)
-
-
31. An apparatus for producing aerosolized doses of a powdered medicament, said apparatus comprising:
-
means for dispersing a predetermined amount of the medicament in a preselected volume of flowing gas to produce an aerosolized quantity of medicament; a cylindrical chamber having a tangential ambient air inlet at one end and a mouthpiece at the other end, wherein the dispersing means is connected to the chamber through an inlet which is on the same end as the ambient air inlet; and an internal baffle disposed transversely within the chamber so that the internal baffle contains the aerosolized medicament within a region between the introducing means and the baffle, wherein the ambient air inlet is disposed tangentially on the chamber between the introducing means and the baffle, whereby inhalation on the mouthpiece will induce a vortical flow of ambient air to sweep medicament past the baffle. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35)
-
Specification