Pressurized Gas Powered Medicament Transfer And Re-Suspension Apparatus And Method

Abstract

Apparatus and method are described employing pressurized gas to transfer, mix and/or reconstitute medicament contained in a vial and flowing it into an injection device. Pressurized gas may be provided by prefilled cartridge.

1 . A method of transferring fluid from a fluid-containing vial to an injection device comprising:
 introducing pressurized gas into a vial;   flowing fluid from the vial under pressure from the gas;   flowing the fluid from the vial into an injection device under the force of the pressurized gas.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  including combining a medicament with the fluid after flowing the fluid from the vial and before flowing the fluid into an injection device. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  in which the combining step includes flowing the fluid from the vial under pressure from the gas into a second vial containing medicament, and the step of the flowing fluid into an injection device comprises flowing combined fluid and medicament from the second vial into an injection device under the force of pressurized gas. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  wherein the fluid is a diluent. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3  wherein the fluid is a first liquid medicament and the medicament in the second vial is a second liquid medicament. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 3  in which the medicament in the second vial is lyophilized, and the diluent reconstitutes the medicament. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  in which the injection device includes an expandable reservoir, and the fluid is flowed into the expandable reservoir under pressure from the pressurized gas. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7  in which the expandable reservoir comprises an elastomeric bladder. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7  in which the reservoir is biased to expel the fluid or combined diluent and medicament. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  in which pressurized gas is flowed from a pre-filled pressure vessel. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  in which the vessel includes a puncturable seal and the method includes puncturing the seal. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1  in which the pressurized gas is essentially pathogen free. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1  including filtering the gas before it enters a vial. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10  in which the pressure vessel is a gas-filled cartridge having a volume of 10 ml or less. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14  in which the cartridge has volume of about 1 ml or less. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 10  in which the pressure vessel initially contains gas at a pressure of greater than about 500 psig. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1  in which the pressurized gas is an inert gas. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1  in which the gas is selected from the group consisting of nitrogen, helium, neon, argon, krypton, and xenon. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 7  including removing entrained gas from the fluid before it enters the expandable reservoir. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1  in which the pressurized gas is flowed from a pre-filled cartridge having a volume of about 1 ml or less and a pressure of about 900 psig or greater. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 1  including controlling the flow rate and/or pressure of the pressurized gas.