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US 11,766,519 B2Granted
Drug delivery mechanism
AssigneeAmgen Inc.
InventorsSudeshna Dutta Ray, Scott R. Gibson, Daniel Eduardo Groszmann, Mehran Mojarrad, Robert Allen Dees, Jonathan Dean Johnson, Antonio S. Murcia
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A flexible plunger rod, drug delivery mechanism, drug delivery device, and methods are described that utilize the flexible plunger rod perform drug delivery operations. In embodiments, the flexible plunger rod can be stored in a curved configuration to thereby reduce a footprint of the drug delivery mechanism and device.
Claims16
A delivery assembly for a drug delivery device, the delivery assembly comprising:
- a reservoir having a tubular housing extending along a longitudinal axis and having a delivery opening at a distal end;
- a plunger disposed within the reservoir in engagement with the housing;
- a flexible plunger rod comprising a spring having a predetermined preload amount and being operably coupled to the plunger;
- and
- a feeding mechanism coupled to the flexible plunger rod and configured to drive the flexible plunger rod along the longitudinal axis of the housing to drive the plunger towards the distal end, the feeding mechanism including a drive gear assembly having a central opening for the spring to extend therethrough, the central opening including a thread configured to engage the spring such that rotation of the drive gear assembly relative to the spring causes the spring to move longitudinally through the drive gear assembly,
- wherein the thread includes a shim that is configured to extend between adjacent coils of the spring.
3 more elements
A method for dispensing a drug, the method comprising:
- driving a flexible plunger rod, comprising a spring having a predetermined preload amount, through a central opening of a drive gear assembly, the central opening including a thread configured to engage the spring such that driving the flexible plunger rod includes rotating the drive gear assembly relative to the spring to cause the spring to move longitudinally through the drive gear assembly, wherein the thread includes a shim that is configured to extend between adjacent coils of the spring;
- and
- driving a plunger longitudinally within a reservoir containing a drug with the flexible plunger rod.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.