Apparatuses, systems, and methods for filling a container with a liquid drug

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method of filling a container with a liquid drug from a drug reservoir may include: a) connecting a container and a drug reservoir with a cannula such that the drug reservoir and the container fluidically communicate with each other via the cannula, while being hermetically sealed; b) reducing a first volume contained within the container to displace a gaseous medium from the first volume of the container via the cannula into a second volume contained within the drug reservoir; c) increasing the first volume of the container to displace the liquid drug from the second volume of the drug reservoir into the first volume of the container to fill the container; and d) disconnecting the container and the drug reservoir. Before performing action d), action b) and action c) can be successively performed more than once to stepwise increase an amount of liquid drug displaced.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus for filling an ampoule with a drug from a reservoir, wherein
 the ampoule is formed by a container and comprises a piston arranged therein   in a displaceable manner, the apparatus comprising:
 a housing; 
 a piston rod that is moveable relative to the housing along a longitudinal axis of the piston rod, the piston rod comprising a coupling member, wherein, when the coupling member couples the piston rod to the piston of the ampoule, such that a positive locking or a non-positive locking occurs between the piston rod and the piston along both directions of the longitudinal axis; and 
 a drive that actuates the piston rod along the longitudinal axis, wherein, upon activation of the drive, the piston rod is actuated back and forth along the longitudinal axis a plurality of times. 
   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising a holding member that, when
 the coupling member couples the piston rod to the piston of the ampoule, holds the   container of the ampoule such that, while the drive is activated, a positive connection and/or a frictional connection is maintained between the container of the ampoule and the housing along both directions of the longitudinal axis.   
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the container is a syringe type container, or a bag type container. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the drive is configured to be controlled by an electric control, an electronic control, or a mechanical control. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the drive is configured to be controlled by electric motors in combination with gears and/or linkage arrangements. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the drive is configured to be controlled by hydraulic or pneumatic drive arrangements, 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the drive is configured to be controlled by spring force driven mechanical actuators. 
     
     
         8 . An apparatus for filling an ampoule with a liquid drug from a drug reservoir, wherein the ampoule is formed by a container and comprises a piston arranged therein in displaceable manner, the apparatus comprising:
 a housing;   a piston rod that is fixed with respect to the housing, the piston rod comprising a coupling member wherein, when the coupling member of the piston rod is coupled to the piston of the ampoule a positive locking or a non positive locking occurs between the piston rod and the piston in both directions of a longitudinal axis;   a holding member that, when the coupling member couples the piston rod to the piston of the ampoule, holds the container of the ampoule such that the holding member is moveable relative to the piston rod along the longitudinal axis of the piston rod; and   a drive for moving the holding member along the longitudinal axis of the piston rod, wherein, at least while the drive is activated, a positive locking and/or frictional locking is made between the container of the ampoule and the holding member in both directions of the longitudinal axis of the piston rod, and wherein the drive , upon being activated, actuates the holding member back and forth along the longitudinal axis of the piston rod a plurality of times.   
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein the drive actuates the holding member back and forth at least three times each. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 8  wherein the drive is configured to oscillate the piston rod. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 8  wherein the drive is configured to oscillate the holding member. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 8  wherein the drive is configured to be controlled by spring force driven mechanical actuators. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 12  further comprising a viscous damping element utilized to control the spring 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 13  further comprising a knee lever arrangement, wherein the energy of the spring is transmitted to the knee lever arrangement via the viscous damping element. 
     
     
         15 . A system for extracting a liquid drug from a drug reservoir, the system comprising:
 an ampoule formed by a container, wherein the ampoule comprises a piston arranged therein in displaceable manner and the container and the piston bound a changeable volume of the ampoule;   a drug reservoir hermetically sealed to the ampoule, wherein the drug reservoir contains an interior volume having a liquid drug contained therein;   a cannula in fluidic communication with the changeable volume of the ampoule and the interior volume of the drug reservoir; and   a drive for causing relative motion along a longitudinal axis between the container and the piston of the ampoule, wherein the drive is actuated to:
 a) reduce the changeable volume of the ampoule such that a gaseous medium is displaced from the changeable volume into the interior volume of the drug reservoir; and 
 b) increase the changeable volume of the ampoule such that the liquid drug is displaced from the interior volume of the drug reservoir drug reservoir into the changeable volume of the ampoule, 
 wherein action a) and action b) are successively performed more than once to stepwise increase an amount of liquid drug displaced to the changeable volume of the ampoule. 
   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the cannula is mounted to an opening of a cavity in a housing of the system by a bayonet joint.