Iontophoretic drug delivery apparatus

Abstract

Improved apparatus for the iontophoretic transdermal delivery of medication across the membrane formed by the body's skin is provided so the medication can be absorbed by the adjacent tissues and blood vessels. The improved apparatus is not reuseable and can be adapted for large dermal area application or for smaller sized area application, based on the specific electrode employed.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is: 
     
       1. An improved iontophoretic medicament applicator for use with an electrically isolated electrical current loop generator and contactable with a patient's skin that is to be penetrated by the medicament, comprising in combination: (a) a medicament carrying medium;   (b) an electrically conductive means for conducting electrical current connected to the medicament carrying medium, the electrically conductive means including a .[.plurality of.]. multichannel .[.electrodes.]. .Iadd.electrode.Iaddend., each electrode channel being electrically driven in a current isolated fashion through a corresponding plurality of individual current loops with each channel receiving the same current level to iontophoretically drive the medicament through the patient's skin in a wide area distribution without incurring an electrical current tunneling effect.   
     
     
       2. The iontophoretic medicament applicator of claim 1 wherein the electrically conducive means further is supported by a flexible plastic material. 
     
     
       3. The iontophoretic medicament applicator of claim 2 wherein the .[.plurality of.]. multichannel .[.electrodes.]. .Iadd.electrode .Iaddend.supported by the flexible plastic material further comprises a circuit pattern etched onto the flexible plastic material. 
     
     
       4. The iontophoretic medicament applicator of claim 3 wherein the circuit pattern further comprises multiple electrically conductive channels that are electrically driven simultaneously or in a sequential multiplex fashion. 
     
     
       5. The iontophoretic medicament applicator of claim 2 wherein the medicament carrying medium further comprises a porous material or a conductive gel. 
     
     
       6. The iontophoretic medicament applicator of claim 5 wherein the porous medicament carrying medium further comprises a sponge-like material with vertical cells. 
     
     
       7. The iontophoretic medicament applicator of claim 6 wherein the porous medicament carrying medium further is selected from the group consisting of polyethylene, paper, cotton, ceramic, silicon rubber and polytetrafluoroethylene. 
     
     
       8. The iontophoretic medicament applicator of claim 1 wherein the electrically conductive means further include connectors which are adapted to be connected to the electrically isolated current loop generator and to each of the plurality of individual current loops, the electrical connectors having a conductive coating that is removable upon disconnection from the electrical current loop generator to prevent reuse by breaking the electrical flow path.