Cell delivery system and methods of operation thereof

Inventors

McGrogan, Michael

Assignees

Sanbio Inc

Abstract

A method of preparing a syringe in connection with a therapeutic treatment is disclosed. The method can include removing a plunger of the syringe from a barrel of the syringe, aligning the barrel in a horizontal orientation, filling a lumen of the barrel with a viscous material through an opening at a proximal end of the barrel, and inserting a plunger tip into the lumen to seal the lumen. The method can also include attaching an implantation device to a hub coupled to the barrel at a distal end of the barrel. The method can also include depressing the plunger until the cell suspension fills the implantation device and a droplet of the cell suspension is expelled from a distal tip of the implantation device.

Core Innovation

The invention provides a method of implanting a viscous material into a subject in connection with a therapeutic treatment. The method includes removing a plunger of a syringe from a barrel with a proximal end, a distal end, and a lumen, filling at least part of the lumen with the viscous material through an opening at the proximal end, and reinserting the plunger. A needle or a cannula is coupled to the distal end, and the viscous material is injected into the subject at one or more deposit sites.

After each injection, the syringe is rotated about a longitudinal axis. In disclosed refinements, the viscous material is a cell suspension, the barrel is aligned horizontally for lumen filling, and an initial expelled droplet from a needle tip is discarded prior to injection. Injected volume is measured using a meniscus formed by remaining viscous material in the barrel.

A related method treats a subject with cells using the same general syringe-and-implantation-device preparation. The plunger is removed and the barrel lumen is filled with cells, the implantation device is coupled at the barrel distal end, and cells are injected at a first deposit site and then a second deposit site. Rotation is applied to at least one of the syringe and the implantation device about a longitudinal axis between deposit-site injections.

Disclosed embodiments further specify that cells can be descended from mesenchymal stem cells transiently transfected with a polynucleotide encoding a Notch intracellular domain. Additional refinements include expelling and discarding a droplet prior to injecting, retracting between deposit sites by a predetermined distance, using a stabilization cannula, and injecting defined amounts at deposit sites.

Claims Coverage

The document includes two independent claims that cover syringe/barrel loading and coupling to an implantation device for injecting a viscous material or cells at multiple deposit sites, with longitudinal-axis rotation applied after injection(s). The independent claims share a core sequence of syringe preparation by removing and reinserting a plunger after filling, coupling to an implantation device at the barrel distal end, injecting at one or more deposit sites, and rotating the syringe and/or implantation device about a longitudinal axis.

Overall claim coverage centers on syringe/barrel loading and coupling to an implantation device for deposit-site delivery, combined with rotating the syringe and/or implantation device about a longitudinal axis during the multi-site injection process.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications