Dry-powder inhaler

An inhaler for delivering dry-powder medicament to a patient from an open blister pocket of a blister pack, the blister pack being in the form of a flexible elongate strip comprising a base sheet having a plurality of recesses spaced along its length and a cover sheet peelably sealed to the base sheet to define a plurality of blister pockets each containing a measured dose of the medicament, the inhaler comprising:

• a medicament dispensing mechanism for opening the blister pockets of the blister pack, the medicament dispensing mechanism comprising means for peeling the cover sheet away from the base sheet of the blister pack;
• a housing for enclosing used and unused portions of the blister pack together with the medicament dispensing mechanism;
• and
• a manifold through which air can be drawn in use of the inhaler, the manifold comprising an air inlet for receiving external air, at least one medicament aperture for communicating with an opened pocket of the blister pack to enable entrainment of the medicament by the air drawn through the manifold, and an air outlet for delivery of the entrained medicament to the patient;
• wherein the medicament dispensing mechanism comprises a driven cover sheet winding wheel for winding up the used portion of the cover sheet, and wherein the housing defines internal transverse walls extending in a width direction of the blister pack for isolating the used portion of the cover sheet from the unused portion of the blister pack,
• wherein the driven cover sheet winding wheel is arranged to apply a tension to the used portion of the cover sheet, and wherein the medicament dispensing mechanism further comprises a guide surface for guiding the cover sheet of the unused portion of the blister pack, an end of the guide surface being arranged adjacent to an outer side surface of the manifold and defining a peeling edge, such that, in use, the cover sheet is peeled away from the base sheet at the peeling edge and the used portion of the cover sheet passes between the peeling edge and the outer side surface of the manifold, and an opened blister pocket moves into registration with the at least one medicament aperture of the manifold, wherein the manifold and the guide surface are defined by separate components of the inhaler.