Compact auto-injector

Inventors

Kapas, Elijah • KANE, MATTHEW • Cullinane, Conor

Abstract

A novel single use auto-injector for delivering a fixed amount of medicament is described. The auto-injector may include a sealed housing rotatably held in a cover. Once the auto-injector is positioned at the injection location, the user can transition the housing from a locked to an armed position. The user can then compress the sealed housing into the cover, triggering activation mechanisms that initiate the injection. A first activation mechanism engages an interlock to prevent reuse of the auto-injector. A second activation mechanism straightens and extends a curved needle to a set the exposed needle length. A third activation mechanism pierces a sealed reservoir allowing the medicament to be forced through the injection needle. Following the injection, the auto-injector expands and interlocks, retracting the needle into the auto-injector and preventing reuse.

Core Innovation

The invention relates to a compact auto-injector device for delivering a medicament dose to a user. The device includes a housing retained in a cover and adapted to be displaced relative to the cover from an initial position to an armed position, wherein a height of the device in the armed position is greater than the height of the device in the initial position. The device has an aspect ratio of width to height in a range from 1 to 10 at a time of delivery of the medicament dose to the user.

The device further comprises a medicament reservoir disposed in the housing and adapted to contain the medicament dose. The medicament reservoir has a longitudinal axis disposed parallel to an injection contact surface of the housing that contacts an injection surface of the user during delivery of the medicament dose. The medicament reservoir is coupled to a needle extension system that comprises an injection needle coupleable to the medicament reservoir.

The needle extension system is adapted to automatically deploy the injection needle up to an intramuscular depth to facilitate dispensing of the medicament dose by the device to the user. The automatic operation is coordinated with use of the device at an injection location by adhering the device to the injection surface, triggering automatic deployment of the injection needle, dispensing the medicament dose through the injection needle, and thereafter immediately removing the device from the injection surface.

Claims Coverage

The document provides two independent claims: one directed to a compact auto-injector device and one directed to a method of operating the compact auto-injector device. Across the independent claims, the core inventive requirements include a cover-retained housing with an armed-position height increase, a medicament reservoir aligned with an injection contact surface, an automatically deployable needle extension system to an intramuscular depth, and a width-to-height aspect ratio from 1 to 10 at delivery time.

Claim coverage is anchored by a compact form factor defined by a width-to-height aspect ratio of 1 to 10 at delivery time, a housing retained in a cover with displacement from an initial position to an armed position where device height increases, a medicament reservoir aligned with an injection contact surface, and a needle extension system that automatically deploys an injection needle to an intramuscular depth, with corresponding method steps of adherence, triggering deployment, dispensing, and immediate removal.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications