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US 2003/0192535 A1Published application
Inhaler
AssigneeAstraZeneca AB
InventorsSoren Christrup, Anders Geert-Jensen, Mikael Jorgensen, Jorgen Rasmussen, Hugo Dines Schmidt
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AssigneeAstraZeneca AB
InventorsSoren Christrup, Anders Geert-Jensen, Mikael Jorgensen, Jorgen Rasmussen, Hugo Dines Schmidt
Estimating the term…
An inhaler such as a breath-actuated inhaler for delivering medicament by inhalation, comprising a housing for receiving a canister of medicament actuatable to deliver a dose of medicament, a detector for detecting actuation of a received canister, a timer responsive to the detector to measure the elapsed time from actuation of the canister, and an indicator means responsive to the timer to indicate when a predetermined time has elapsed during which the user should maintain inhalation or delay exhalation. This allows the inhaler to provide an indication of how the user should breath to properly receive a dose of medicament. The indicator means may be further responsive to the timer to indicate when a second predetermined time has elapsed.
An inhaler for delivering medicament by inhalation, comprising:
A inhaler according to claim or 2, wherein the indicator means is a display for displaying a visual indication the predetermined time has elapsed.
An inhaler according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the indicator means is further responsive to the timer to indicate when a second predetermined time has elapsed.
An inhaler according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the inhaler further comprising an actuation mechanism operatable to actuate the canister and the detector is arranged to detect operation of the actuation mechanism.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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Inhalators: mechanically breath-triggered
Indicating or counting the number of dispensed doses or of remaining doses: electronic counters
Indicating or counting the number of dispensed doses or of remaining doses: timers
Indicating or counting the number of dispensed doses or of remaining doses: locking means
Term end not estimated
The present invention relates to an inhaler, such as a breath-actuated inhaler, for delivering medicament by inhalation.
Known inhalers receive a canister of medicament which is actuatable to deliver a dose of medicament. For various medicaments, the user is required to synchronise inhalation and exhalation with the actuation of the canister. Normally it is recommended that the user inhales for a given period of time after delivery of a dose. However, in practice this can be difficult for the user who will often breath incorrectly resulting in inhalation of an incorrect dose or in a dose not properly reaching the user's lungs or throat. This can be particularly a problem for the user in an emergency when it may be more vital than usual to deliver a dose properly.
It is known to provide a breath-actuated inhaler which includes an actuation mechanism operatable to actuate the canister upon inhalation by the user. This ensures that the dose of medicament delivered on actuation of the canister is supplied whilst the user is inhaling. However, there remains the problem of the user needing to synchronise the rest of his inhalation with the delivery of a dose, in particular as to how long the user should maintain inhalation or delay exhalation. This is particularly difficult in the case of a breath-actuated inhaler because the user does not always recognise what point during inhalation the breath-actuated mechanism actuates the cannister to deliver a dose of medicament.
To allow a better understanding, an inhaler which embodies the present invention will now be described by way of non-limitative example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a front view of the inhaler held in a hand;
FIG. 2 is a side view of the inhaler;
An inhaler 1 which embodies the present invention is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, respectively showing the front view of the inhaler 1 held in a users hand and a side view of the inhaler.
The inhaler has a housing 2 comprising an upper housing portion 3 and a lower housing portion 4 which are coupled together. The upper and lower housing portions 3 and 4 have outer walls which are hollow to define a space accommodating a canister 5 of medicament and an actuation mechanism 6 operatable to actuate the canister 5 to deliver a dose of medicament.
The upper housing portion 3 has opposed side walls 7 joined by a flat front wall 8, a curved rear wall 9 and a top wall 10. The lower housing portion 3 has opposed side walls 11 fitting flush with the side walls 7 of the upper housing portion 3 and a curved rear wall 11 fitting flush with the rear wall 9 of the upper housing portion 3. The rear walls 11 and 9 together form a curved surface comfortably received in the palm of the user's hand as illustrated in FIG. 1. A mouthpiece 13 protrudes from the lower housing portion 4 and may be protected by a cap 14 hinged to the lower housing member 4 to be openable as illustrated in FIG. 2.