Device for preparing a medicinal liquid and method for preserving a solution of medicament for injection

• US 7,462,164 B2
• Filed: 10/22/2004
• Issued: 12/09/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ares Trading SA (Merck & Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Ares Trading SA (Merck & Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Moir, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Sirmons; Kevin C
• Assistant Examiner(s): GRAY, PHILLIP A
• Application Number:
  US10/972,277
• Publication Number:
  US 20050113747A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,509 Days
• Field of Search: 604 82- 88, 604411-415
• US Class Current: 604/82
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/1782 Devices aiding filling of syringes in situ combination of a vial and a syringe for transferring or mixing their contents A61J1/2096, filling of medical containers in general B65B3/003
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/24 Ampoule syringes, i.e. syringes with needle for use in combination with replaceable ampoules or carpules, e.g. automatic ampoules or carpules A61J1/06

Abstract

This device comprises means for supporting a first and a second chamber, means for allowing these chambers to communicate with each other, and a movable member for applying a suitable force to reduce the volume of the first chamber. The means for supporting the first and second chambers comprise two tubular bodies, each open at one end, the dimensions of these openings being such as to allow these tubular bodies to be brought together and slid one into the other, a double-ended needle, with associated guide means, being interposed between the said chambers in such a way that when the said tubular bodies are slid towards each other, the respective ends of the said needle pass into the chambers and the volume of the chamber is reduced.

Claims

1. A device for preparing a medicinal liquid by combining a first liquid substance contained in a first variable-volume chamber and a second substance contained in a second chamber, the device, comprising:

a first and a second tubular bodies each open at one end and closed at the other end,

the respective open ends of the first and second tubular bodies being conformed to be engaged one into the other for a sliding movement,

a first and a second internal tubular supports held in position respectively with respect to the first and second tubular bodies, for holding respectively in position the first variable-volume chamber and the second chamber,

a double-ended needle for allowing these chambers to communicated with each other, and

a pusher for engaging means for varying the volume of the first variable-volume chamber, device wherein

the first internal tubular support has a smaller-diameter rear section for holding the first chamber and a larger-diameter forward section corresponding to the inside diameter of the first tubular body,

the double-ended needle is held in position between the forward confronting ends of the first and second chambers by a central partition of a tubular guide member through which the double-ended needle passes, said tubular guide member being in slide engagement on the one hand into the open end of the second tubular body, and on the other hand into a larger-diameter forward section of the first internal tubular support,

the end of the larger-diameter forward section of the first internal tubular support forming a stop for limiting the sliding movement of internal tubular supports one with respect to the other to a first section of sliding movement corresponding to passage of the respective ends of the double-ended needle into the first and second chambers,

the said pusher projecting inside from the closed end of the first tubular body,

the wall of the first tubular body comprising elastic arms the internal surfaces of which are shaped to fit the first internal tubular support for connecting the first tubular body and the first internal tubular support and for preventing the first internal tubular support from sliding relative to the first tubular body,

inclined surfaces formed inside said elastic arms to be engaged by the end of the second tubular body at the end of the first section of the sliding movement, for releasing the first internal tubular support from the first tubular body allowing a second section of the said sliding movement of the first tubular body with respect to the first internal tubular support, during which the pusher of the first tubular body pushes the means for varying the volume of the first variable-volume chamber for transferring a defined volume of liquid from the first chamber to the second chamber.

2. The device according to claim 1, in which the two ends of the tubular guide member in which the double-ended needle is held in position are each closed by a performable plug to ensure that the needle is maintained in a sterile environment between the said chambers.

3. The device according to claim 1, in which all the components of which it is composed and the first variable-volume chamber and the second chamber are preassembled.

4. The device according to claim 1, comprising:

a first stop for limiting a sliding of the tubular bodies into each other; and

a second stop for limiting a penetration of the double-ended needle into the first and second chambers to a length less than the sliding of the tubular bodies into each other.

5. The device according to claim 4, wherein the first tubular body containing the second chamber consists of a syringe for injecting the medicinal liquid.

6. The device according to claim 4, wherein the first stop for limiting the sliding of the tubular bodies into each other comprises at least one guide path, integral with one of the tubular bodies, and at least one guided part integral with the other of the tubular bodies in engagement with the at least one guide path, the guide path comprising:

an initial section in which the guided part is locked axially, corresponding to an axial position of greatest distance between the tubular bodies from each other, followed by a section to allow axial separation of the tubular bodies from each other.

7. The device according to claim 6, wherein the first tubular body containing the second chamber consists of a syringe for injecting the medicinal liquid.

8. The device according to claim 6, wherein an elastic means are provided between an end of a second section of the at least one guide path and a beginning of a third section of the at least one guide path, to prevent the guided part from returning, in engagement with the at least one guide path, into the second section of the at least one guide path after having reached an end of the second section of the at least one guide path, corresponding to a limit of mutual approach of the tubular bodies.

9. The device according to claim 8, wherein the first tubular body containing the second chamber consists of a syringe for injecting the medicinal liquid.

10. The device according to claim 4, wherein each of the sliding tubular bodies comprises at least two ends, a first end of each of the sliding tubular bodies possesses an elastic abutment to divide the sliding between the said tubular bodies into two sections, a first section coinciding with a penetration of the two ends of the double-ended needle into the respective chambers, and a second section occurring after the elastic abutment has been pushed out, coinciding with the reduction in volume of the first chamber, a second end of each of the tubular bodies being shaped to push the elastic abutment out to allow the tubular bodies to carry out the second section of their sliding.

11. The device according to claim 10, wherein the first tubular body containing the second chamber consists of a syringe for injecting the medicinal liquid.

12. The device according to claim 10, wherein the first stop for limiting the sliding of the tubular bodies into each other comprises at least one guide path, integral with one of the tubular bodies, and at least one guided part integral with the other of the tubular bodies in engagement with the at least one guide path comprising:

an initial section in which the at least one guided part is locked axially, corresponding to an axial position of greatest distance between the tubular bodies from each other, followed by a section to allow axial separation of the tubular bodies from each other.

13. The device according to claim 12, wherein the first tubular body containing the second chamber consists of a syringe for injecting the medicinal liquid.

14. The device according to claim 1, wherein each of the sliding tubular bodies comprises at least two ends, a first end of each of the sliding tubular bodies possesses an elastic abutment to divide a sliding between the tubular bodies into two sections, a first section coinciding with a penetration of the two ends of the double-ended needle into the respective chambers, and a second section occurring after the elastic abutment has been pushed out, coinciding with the reduction in volume of the first chamber, a second end of each of the tubular bodies being shaped to push the elastic abutment out to allow the tubular bodies to carry out the second section of their sliding.

15. The device according to claim 14, wherein the first tubular body containing the second chamber consists of a syringe for injecting the medicinal liquid.

16. The device according to claim 14, wherein the elastic abutments, integral with one of the ends of each of the tubular bodies, is in engagement with the second stop for limiting the penetration of the said double-ended needle into the chambers, in such a way that the second stop is released from the elastic abutment when the elastic abutment is pushed out.

17. The device according to claim 16, wherein the first tubular body containing the second chamber consists of a syringe for injecting the medicinal liquid.

18. The device according to claim 14, wherein the first stop for limiting the sliding of the tubular bodies into each other comprises at least one guide path, integral with one of the tubular bodies, and at least one guided part integral with the other of the tubular bodies in engagement with the guide path, the guide path comprising:

an initial section in which the at least one guided part is locked axially, corresponding to an axial position of greatest distance between the tubular bodies from each other, followed by a section to allow axial separation of the tubular bodies from each other.

19. The device according to claim 18, wherein the first tubular body containing the second chamber consists of a syringe for injecting the medicinal liquid.

20. The device according to claim 1, wherein the first tubular body containing the second chamber consists of a syringe for injecting the medicinal liquid.

21. The device according to claim 20, wherein the rear end of the second chamber is closed by a plunger, the second chamber being held in position by a tubular support in the first tubular body, reserving a space between said plunger and a member, integral with the syringe for operating the plunger corresponding to a distance the plunger of the second chamber must travel following the transfer of a predetermined volume of liquid from the first chamber to the second chamber.