System and method for removing medication from packaging

Abstract

An improved pharmaceutical dispensing system that allows direct transfer of doses from bulk blister packs into custom pharmaceutical packages in which medication doses are arranged by day of the week and/or time of day. In a preferred embodiment, the invention comprises a positioning mechanism that controls a de-blister apparatus. The de-blister apparatus comprises a de-blister means, such as a plunger, to remove individual doses from the blister pack and dispose them into a corresponding cavity of the custom pharmaceutical package. The apparatus may operate under manual or automatic control. Such an invention alleviates the operator from having to remove all of the medication doses from the blister pack before distributing the doses amongst the cavities of the custom pharmaceutical package.

1 . A pharmaceutical dispensing apparatus comprising: 
 a positioning mechanism; and    a de-blister apparatus connected to said positioning mechanism; and    one or more blister packs comprised of a plurality of medication-containing blisters; and    a pharmaceutical package containing a plurality of cavities; wherein    said de-blister apparatus comprises a means for removing a dose of medication from one of said blister packs and disposing the dose into one of the cavities of said pharmaceutical package.    
   
   
       2 . The pharmaceutical dispensing apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein said de-blister apparatus means comprises a plunger that oscillates in a vertical direction.  
   
   
       3 . The pharmaceutical dispensing apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein said positioning mechanism comprises a plurality of slide rails providing said de-blister apparatus with movement in any direction in a horizontal plane.  
   
   
       4 . The pharmaceutical dispensing apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein said positioning mechanism comprises a pivot arm providing said de-blister apparatus with movement in any direction in a horizontal plane.  
   
   
       5 . The pharmaceutical dispensing apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein said positioning mechanism further comprises one or more screw drives allowing for automated positioning of the de-blister apparatus.  
   
   
       6 . A method of dispensing pharmaceuticals from blister packs comprising: 
 a positioning mechanism; and    one or more blister packs comprised of a plurality of medication-containing blisters; and    a pharmaceutical package containing a plurality of cavities; and    a de-blister apparatus connected to said positioning mechanism and comprising a means for removing a dose of medication from one of said blister pack; wherein    said de-blister apparatus operates on said blister packs to cause a dose of medication removed from the blister pack to be disposed into a pre-determined one of said cavities in the pharmaceutical package.    
   
   
       7 . A method of dispensing pharmaceuticals from blister packs as in  claim 6 , wherein: 
 said positioning mechanism operates under automated control.    
   
   
       8 . A method of dispensing pharmaceuticals from blister packs as in  claim 6 , wherein said de-blister apparatus means comprises a plunger that oscillates in a vertical direction.