Dosage form articles
AssigneeCapsugel Belgium NV
InventorsHilde Buydts, Stefaan Jaak Vanquickenborne
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A dosage form article suitable for oral administration may include more than one compartment, each formed by a plurality of distinct segments of the dosage form article. The dosage form article may also include a signaling means and a drug, wherein the signaling means and the drug are each stored in different compartments physically separated from one another. Both the drug and the signaling means may be wholly incorporated within the dosage form article, the respective compartments being arranged to fully enclose the drug and signaling means only when at least two of the plurality of distinct segments are connected.
Claims16
A dosage form article suitable for oral administration, comprising more than one compartment each formed by a plurality of distinct segments of the dosage form article, said dosage form article comprising a signaling means and a drug, wherein said signaling means and said drug are each stored in different compartments physically separated from one another, and wherein both said drug and said signaling means are wholly incorporated within said dosage form article, each respective compartment being arranged to fully enclose said drug or signaling means only when at least two of said plurality of distinct segments are connected, wherein each said distinct segment consists of a cap part or a body part and said cap and/or body parts are hard capsule shells.
A method for the automatic prompting of a subject to take a medicament, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing a portable communication device arranged to provide a warning selected from visual, sound, and combinations thereof, to a subject when it is time to ingest a medicament;
- providing a dosage form according to any of the preceding claims;
- providing a receiver capable of detecting a signal generated by the signaling means, the receiver being arranged to provide a further signal to a processing device, the processing device capable of recording said further signal and to instruct the communication device to stop providing said warning;
- and
- allowing said receiver to detect said signaling means;
- wherein said warning is de-activated only when the subject places said receiver proximal to said dosage form, and the signaling means stored therein is detected, typically wherein the signaling means is detected by the receiver only after the dosage form article is ingested.
A method for determining whether it is safe to ingest a medicament comprising the steps of:
- providing a dosage form according to any of the preceding claims;
- comparing a signal received by the signaling means to a predetermined scale to instruct a subject whether he should or should not ingest said dosage form.
(canceled)
A dosage form comprising:
- an article suitable for oral administration, the article having
- a plurality of compartments each formed by a plurality of distinct segments of the article;
- a signal emitter;
- and
- a drug, wherein the signal emitter and the drug are each stored in different compartments physically separated from one another, and wherein both the drug and the signal emitter are wholly incorporated within the dosage form article, each respective compartment being arranged to fully enclose the drug or signal emitter only when at least two of the plurality of distinct segments are connected, wherein each distinct segment includes of a cap part or a body part and the cap and/or body parts are hard capsule shells.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.