Liquid drug cartridges and associated dispenser

A liquid drug cartridge, comprising:

• a container defining a chamber that is configured to store a liquid drug;
• an end cap coupled with a first end of the container, the end cap having an ejection opening from which a volume of the liquid drug from the container can be selectively ejected;
• a filter element positioned between the container and the ejection opening, the filter element being configured to filter the liquid drug prior to ejection from the ejection opening;
• a check valve disposed between the end cap and the chamber configured to permit only one way flow from the container to the ejection opening to block microbial ingress into the container from the ejection opening;
• and
• a piston that extends an entire distance between opposing sidewalls of the container, the piston being solid so as to prevent the liquid drug from passing through and/or beyond the piston, the piston sealing a second end of the container that is spaced apart from the first end, the piston being repositionable relative to the container so as to selectively eject a volume of the liquid drug from the container via the ejection opening.

An aerosolization system, comprising:

• a liquid drug cartridge, comprising:
• a container defining a chamber that is configured to store a liquid drug;
• an end cap coupled with a first end of the container, the end cap having an ejection opening from which a volume of the liquid drug from the container can be selectively ejected;
• a filter element positioned between the container and the ejection opening, the filter element being configured to filter the liquid drug prior to ejection from the ejection opening;
• and
• a piston sealing a second end of the container, the piston being repositionable relative to the container so as to selectively eject a volume of the liquid drug from the container via the ejection opening
• an aerosol generator including a vibratable membrane having a front face and a rear face, and a vibratable element used to vibrate the membrane;
• a housing defining a mouthpiece, the housing including a receptacle configured to at least partially receive the liquid drug cartridge and interface with the liquid drug cartridge to position the ejection opening of the liquid drug cartridge to dispense liquid drug directly onto the rear face of the vibratable membrane to be aerosolized by controlled vibration of the vibratable element, wherein the rear face of the vibratable membrane faces the ejection opening and the front face faces away from the ejection opening, and wherein the vibratable membrane is configured to deliver the aerosolized liquid drug from the front face;
• and
• an actuator configured to reposition the piston of the liquid drug cartridge to dispense a dosage of the drug via the ejection opening to the rear face of the vibratable membrane.