Ultraviolet Sanitization In Pharmacy Environments
First Claim
1. A system to automate pharmaceutical compounding, the system comprising:
- a chamber;
an automated system to transport medical containers within the chamber;
a compounding system disposed in the chamber to transfer medicaments between medical containers; and
a sanitization system to substantially reduce bioactivity on at least a portion of a fluid transfer port of a medical container, the sanitization system comprising;
at least one radiation source to supply a dose of radiation;
a plurality of radiation seal assemblies, each radiation seal assembly having an aperture and configured to engage a fluid transfer port of a medical container having a particular shape;
a controller to determine which radiation seal assembly corresponds to the fluid transfer port to be sanitized; and
an actuator to bring the portion of the fluid transfer port to be sanitized into optical communication with the radiation source through the aperture of the determined radiation seal assembly.
8 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods to reduce bioburden on at least a portion of a fluid transfer port include supplying a dose of radiation to the portion in optical communication with at least one source of radiation. In an illustrative example, a medical container, such as a vial or IV bag, receives a dose of ultraviolet (UV) energy substantially at a predetermined region of a fluid transfer site. In some examples, such a sanitization process may precede a fluid transfer operation in which a fluid is transferred into or out of the medical container by passing through the sanitized region. Such fluid transfers may be used in automated or semi-automated pharmaceutical processes, such as drug reconstitution. Various embodiments may further include one or more seal assemblies, each seal assembly having an aperture through which the radiation dose is supplied from the source to a controlled region on the fluid transfer port.
195 Citations
57 Claims
-
1. A system to automate pharmaceutical compounding, the system comprising:
-
a chamber; an automated system to transport medical containers within the chamber; a compounding system disposed in the chamber to transfer medicaments between medical containers; and a sanitization system to substantially reduce bioactivity on at least a portion of a fluid transfer port of a medical container, the sanitization system comprising; at least one radiation source to supply a dose of radiation; a plurality of radiation seal assemblies, each radiation seal assembly having an aperture and configured to engage a fluid transfer port of a medical container having a particular shape; a controller to determine which radiation seal assembly corresponds to the fluid transfer port to be sanitized; and an actuator to bring the portion of the fluid transfer port to be sanitized into optical communication with the radiation source through the aperture of the determined radiation seal assembly. - 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. A sanitization system to substantially reduce bioactivity on at least a portion of a fluid transfer port of a medical container, the system comprises:
-
at least one radiation source to supply a dose of radiation; a plurality of radiation seal assemblies, each radiation seal assembly having an aperture and configured to engage a fluid transfer port of a medical container having a particular shape; and an actuator to bring the portion of the fluid transfer port to be sanitized into optical communication with the radiation source through the aperture of the radiation seal assembly determined to correspond to the fluid transport to be sanitized. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
-
-
46. A method of substantially sanitizing at least a portion of a fluid transfer port of a medical container, the method comprising the steps of:
-
providing a sanitization system having at least one radiation source and a plurality of radiation seal assemblies, each radiation seal assembly having an aperture and configured to engage a fluid transfer port of a medical container having a particular shape; retrieving the medical container to be sanitized; determining which radiation seal assembly corresponds to the medical container; engaging the medical container with the determined radiation seal assembly; and supplying a predetermined dose of radiation from the radiation source to the portion of the fluid transfer port to be sanitized to substantially reduce bioactivity thereon. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57)
-
Specification