INJECTION DEVICE WITH FEEDBACK MECHANISM

Abstract

An injection device for the delivery of medicament is disclosed having an indicator for providing an activation indication. The device includes a housing; a plunger slidably mounted within the housing; an actuation mechanism configured, in use, to move the plunger forward relative to a syringe so as to express medicament from the syringe. The device also includes an indicator element responsive to the forward movement of the plunger and configured to provide an audible and/or tactile and/or visual indication when the plunger reaches or approaches its forward position. The plunger includes an elongate shaft formed of at least two telescopic sections. The actuation mechanism acts on the plunger, in use, to expand the telescopic sections and to sequentially move each of the telescopic sections forwardly within the housing. The indicator element is arranged to be responsive to the forward movement of the trailing telescopic section.

Claims

1. An injection device for the delivery of medicament and having an indicator for providing an activation indication, the device comprising: a housing; a plunger slidably mounted within the housing; an actuation mechanism configured, in use, to move the plunger forward relative to a syringe so as to express medicament from the syringe; and an indicator responsive to the forward movement of the plunger and configured to provide an audible and/or tactile and/or visual indication when the plunger reaches or approaches its forward position; wherein: the plunger comprises an elongate shaft formed of at least two telescopic sections; the actuation mechanism acts on the plunger, in use, to expand the telescopic sections and to sequentially move each of the telescopic sections forwardly within the housing; and wherein the indicator is arranged to be responsive to the forward movement of the trailing telescopic section.

2. An injection device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the indicator is biased towards the indicating position and, in its rearward position, the plunger is arranged to hold the indicator element against said bias.

3. An injection device as claimed in claim 2, wherein release of said indicator enables the indicator element to move under said bias to create a kinetic impact resulting in an audible and/or tactile and/or visual indication.

4. An injection device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the housing has a window aligned with the indicator such that the indicator may move into or out of alignment with the window to provide a visual indication.

5. An injection device as claimed in claim 4, wherein the indicator comprises a resilient member and wherein, in its rearward position, the plunger holds the indicator element in a stressed position.

6. An injection device as claimed in claim 5, wherein the indicator comprises a spring clip configured to snap together when released from its stressed position to provide said audible and/or tactile indication.

7. An injection device as claimed in claim 6, wherein the trailing telescopic section of the plunger at least partially radially surrounds at least one other telescopic section.

8. An injection device as claimed in claim 6, wherein the trailing telescopic section of the plunger is at least partially surrounded by at least one other telescopic section.

9. An injection device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the indicator comprises a shuttle member disposed in a generally transverse passageway, the indication position of the shuttle member being at, or proximal to, one end of the passageway and the shuttle member being biased towards the indicating position along the length of the transverse passageway.

10. An injection device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the plunger is arranged, in its rearward position, to lock the indicator against said bias in a position which is spaced away from said end of the passage way.

11. An injection device as claimed in claim 10, wherein the trailing telescopic section of the plunger is at least partially radially surrounded by at least one other telescopic sections.

12. An injection device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the actuation mechanism comprises a drive source and a latch arranged to hold the plunger in a rearward position against the drive source and wherein the injection device further comprises a trigger, associated with the housing, and arranged to release the latch to allow the plunger to move forward under the influence of the drive source.

13. An injection device as claimed in claim 12, wherein the actuation mechanism further comprises an intermediate drive member and the drive source comprises a first compression drive spring disposed between said intermediate drive member and said housing, or a part associated therewith, and a second compression spring disposed between said intermediate drive member the plunger.

14. An injection device as claimed in claim 13, wherein the indicator is provided on the intermediate drive member.

15. An injection device as claimed in claim 12, wherein the leading telescopic plunger section comprises an abutment surface configured to be releasably engaged by the latch.

16. A plunger for an injection device, the plunger comprising an elongate shaft formed of at least two telescopic sections, said telescopic sections being arranged to axially extend the plunger shaft during actuation of the injection device, wherein the leading telescopic section includes at least one abutment surface configured to be releasably engaged by a latch of the injection device.

17. An injection device or plunger as claimed in claim 15, wherein the abutment surface is provided at or proximal to a rear end of the leading plunger section.

18. An injection device or plunger as claimed in claim 17, wherein the forward end of the leading plunger section is arranged to engage a syringe and is provided with a rearward facing flange surface for engagement with the actuation mechanism.

19. An injection device or plunger as claimed in claim 15 wherein the plunger further comprises a trailing section and an intermediate section disposed between the leading and trailing sections.

20. An injection device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the housing has a window aligned with the indicator such that the indicator may move into or out of alignment with the window to provide a visual indication.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0033] The invention may be performed in various ways, and embodiments thereof will now be described by way of example only, reference being made to the accompanying schematic drawings, in which:

[0034] FIG. 1 is a three-dimensional partial cross sectional view of the rear section of an autoinjector in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention;

[0035] FIG. 2 is an exploded three-dimensional view of an indicator element for use in a second embodiment of the invention;

[0036] FIG. 3 are three-dimensional views showing the operation of the indicator element of FIG. 2;

[0037] FIG. 4 shows three-dimensional views and side-views of a plunger for use in embodiments in both a nested and expanded configuration;

[0038] FIG. 5 shows an alternate plunger arrangement in accordance with an embodiment; and

[0039] FIG. 6 shows a further alternate plunger arrangement in accordance with an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0040] “Front” as used herein will be understood to refer to the end of the injector assembly (or components thereof) which, in use, is closest to the delivery needle delivery end of the injector (i.e. the end which is pointed at the skin). “Rear” as used herein will be understood to refer to the end of the injector assembly (or components thereof) which, in use, is furthest from the delivery needle end of the injector (i.e. the end which is pointed away from the skin). “Forward” and “rearward” will, likewise, be understood to refer to the directions orientated towards the front and rear of the injector assembly. Thus, it will be appreciated that the forward direction is generally the actuation direction of the device (although in some devices there may be some steps of the actuation, for example a needle withdrawal, which are in the rearward direction). The terms “leading” is used herein to conveniently refer to the sections of the plunger which lead during actuation movement, for example in that they either move forward first sequentially or move forward to the forwardmost position. Likewise “trailing” will be understood to refer to the sections which are rearmost during or after actuation.

[0041] For convenience the preferred embodiment is shown in an injector device substantially of the type disclosed in the applicants co-pending International Patent Application No. PCT/GB2011/051950 (the contents of which is incorporated herein by reference). It will however be appreciated that the invention is not limited to such an arrangement and may be used in injectors having other actuation arrangements.

[0042] An injection device 1 according to an embodiment comprises a housing 10 having a generally elongate and cylindrical form within which is housed a syringe 20. The rear portion of housing 10 includes an actuation mechanism 30 which may be of any convenient form. The forward end of the injector device is omitted in FIG. 1 for clarity and the skilled person will appreciate that it will typically comprise a forward section of the housing 10 which encloses the syringe 20 and the needle at the forward end of the syringe. The forward section of the housing may also include a cap and/or a needle shield arrangement as are known in the art.

[0043] The actuation mechanism 30 is arranged to move a plunger 40 between an initial rearward position, as shown in FIG. 1a, and a forward delivery position, as shown in FIG. 1b, such that the plunger 40 may express a dose from the syringe 20 by moving the bung or piston 22 of the syringe forward within the syringe body. In the illustrated embodiment the actuation mechanism 30 is of the type which initially moves the syringe 20 forward from within the housing 10 such that the needle of the syringe may automatically penetrate the skin and then subsequently continues to move the plunger relative to the syringe to express the entire dose of medicament from within the syringe 20. As mentioned above, the present invention is not limited to any particular actuation mechanism and it will, therefore, be appreciated that other injector arrangements are known in which the needle protrudes from the housing prior to firing such that it is manually inserted into the skin (and the syringe may be fixed relative to the housing). As explained further below, the actuation mechanism 30 includes a drive source in the form of at least one compression spring 32, 34 for urging the plunger 40 and a latch 36 which initially holds the plunger in its rearward position against the force of the spring 32, 34. A trigger button 15 is provided associated with the housing 10 and is arranged in use to release the plunger 40 from the latch 36 to free it for forward movement.

[0044] It may be noted that the embodiment of FIG. 1 includes an actuation mechanism 30 of the type which includes a first drive spring 32, which extends between an intermediate member 35 and a surface associated with the housing 10, and a second drive spring 34, which extends between the intermediate member 35 and a flange 45 having a rearward facing abutment surface, for receiving the spring 34 which is formed at the forward end of the plunger 40. The flange 45 has a rearward facing abutment surface for receiving the spring 34. For the purposes of clarity it may be noted that the first drive spring 32 is only partially shown in FIG. 1a and would typically extend rearwardly to the forward facing inner surface of the latch 36 (or some other engagement feature associated with the housing). In FIG. 1a, the injection device is shown in a position in which a trigger button 15 has already been depressed forwardly towards the inside of the housing 10 and has caused the head 43 of the plunger 40 to be released from the latch 36. In the position shown, the first drive spring 32 has begun to expand and has resulted in forward movement of the intermediate member 35, plunger 40 and indicator 50. As the illustrated arrangement is of a type in which the syringe 20 initially moves forward, the plunger 40 initially presses upon the bung or piston 22 of the syringe but due to the substantially incompressible nature of the medicament contained within the syringe 20, the piston 22 does not move relative to the syringe 20 until the syringe 20 has moved to a forward position and reached a stop.

[0045] It may be noted that during the initial movement shown in FIG. 1a the plunger 40 is in its collapsed configuration with the leading plunger section 42 positioned within the trailing plunger section 48. In this embodiment the telescopic plunger sections are generally concentric. As the forward movement of the plunger 40 continues under the force of the drive springs 32, 34 the inner plunger section 42 will begin to move forward of the outer plunger section 48. Once the inner leading plunger section 42 has slid to its fully telescopically extended position relative to the outer plunger 48 the interconnection between the plunger shaft sections will require the trailing outer plunger 48 to also be drawn forwardly along with the leading section 42. Thus, the plunger sections 42, 48 both extend and move sequentially forward under the force of the drive springs 32, 34 as part of the plunger actuation movement to drive the piston 22 of the syringe 20 fully forward, to the position shown in FIG. 1b.

[0046] At the rear of the intermediate member 35 there is provided an indicator 50 in the form of a pressed metal spring clip which comprises a pair of opposed jaws 52a and 52b connected by a sprung body section 53. Initially, when the plunger 40 is in the rearward position, the telescopic shaft of the plunger 40, and particularly the trailing outer plunger section 48 is positioned between the jaws 52a, 52b of the spring clip 50 as shown in FIG. 1a. Thus, the plunger 40 holds the jaws 52a and 52b apart in a deformed position against their resilient spring bias.

[0047] As shown in FIG. 1b, when the plunger 40 reaches the desired forward position (which would typically be as the piston 22 reaches the forward end of the syringe 20 so that a full dose of medicament has been dispensed) the trailing outer plunger section 48 moves forward of the forwardmost extend of the spring clip 50 (i.e. beyond the rearmost extent of the intermediate member 35) freeing the sprung clip 50 to move back to its undeformed closed position. This closure occurs in a snapping manner resulting in the jaws 52a and 52b impacting one another so as to create an audible (and optionally tactile) indication that the plunger 40 has reached a predetermined forward position.

[0048] In an alternative arrangement, the indicator 50 may be replaced with an indicator member which is held against a bias by the rearward end of the plunger 40 and released when the rearmost end of the trailing section of the plunger 48 moves forward. Such an arrangement may use a substantively identical actuation mechanism as that shown in FIG. 1. An indicator arrangement for such an embodiment is shown in an exploded view in FIG. 2. Conveniently, the indicator 250 is formed within the trigger 215 of the injection device. The trigger 215 comprises a body 215b and a cover 215a which together define an inner space within which the indicator 250 is provided. A transverse channel 252 is defined within the trigger 215 extending substantially across the full width of the trigger 215. A shuttle member 254 is slideably received within the aperture 252 and is provided with a spring 251 which is arranged to bias the shuttle 254 towards an indication position at one end of the passageway (the right hand side as shown in the Figures). An aperture 253 is formed in the forward side of the transverse channel 252. The rearward end of the trailing plunger section 48 is configured to project rearwardly through the aperture 253 when the plunger 40 is in its rearward position. A corresponding aperture 255 is also formed in the shuttle 254 through which the plunger 40 also extends so as to latch the shuttle 254 away from the indicating position and to hold the spring 251 in a compressed position. It will, however, be appreciated that the plunger end could alternatively lock the transverse channel 252 in front of the shuttle 254 such that an aperture 255 would not be required.

[0049] The operation of the indicator 250 of FIG. 2 is illustrated in FIG. 3. FIG. 3a shows the shuttle 254 in its retracted position with the aperture 255 aligned with the aperture 253 of the transverse channel 252. In this position the end of the trailing plunger section 48 would extend through the apertures and latch the shuttle 254. When the plunger 40 moves forward during actuation of the injection device the plunger 40 would be moved forwardly in the same manner as described above (with reference to the embodiment of FIG. 1) until the trailing section 48 was moved forward out of the apertures 255 and 253. Thus, the shuttle 254 would be free to move to the position shown in FIG. 3b. The spring 251 would be selected to be sufficiently strong that the shuttle 254 would strike the end wall of the transverse channel 252 to create an audible and/or tactile indication. As the indicator 250 is formed in the trigger button 215 the users thumb would typically be positioned on the cover 215a throughout operation of the injector device and would be particularly receptive to a tactile indication provided within the trigger button 215. It may be noted that the trigger 215 is also provided with a window 246 in its sidewall and the shuttle 254 is provided with a correspondingly dimension projection 256 which in the indication position enters the window 246. Thus, the indicator 250 may also provide a visual indication.

[0050] A telescopic plunger arrangement 440 for use in embodiments of the invention (and particularly suitable for use with the indicator 250 of FIGS. 2 and 3) is shown in FIG. 4. FIGS. 4a and 4b show the plunger 440 in a collapsed configuration and FIGS. 4c and 4d show the plunger 440 in its expanded configuration. The plunger 440 extends from a flange 445 at its forward end which is arranged to engage the piston of a syringe with its forward face and be driven forward by an actuation mechanism using its rearwardly facing flange surface. In the collapsed state the plunger 440 is provided with a tip 449 at its rearmost end which may be used to engage the indicator (such as the shuttle 254 via the apertures 253 and 255).

[0051] The rearward end of the plunger 440 is provided with an enlarged head 443 which is positioned rearwardly of a neck defining an abutment surface 444 for engagement with a latch of the actuation mechanism 30. As seen most clearly from the expanded configuration of the plunger 440 the plunger comprises three slideably connected telescopic sections namely a leading section 442, a trailing section 448 and an intermediate connecting section 446. It will be noted that the tip 449 is formed on the trailing section 448 and the flange 445 and head 443 (including the abutment surface 444) are all formed on the leading section 442. Thus, it will be appreciated that, in the latched position, the load of the actuation mechanism is held between the abutment surface 444 and the flange 445. Upon release of the latch the leading section 442 and intermediate section 446 may slide relative to the trailing section 448 so that the plunger may expand to approximately triple its collapsed length of the plunger before the tip 449 of the trailing portion is moved out of engagement with the indicator 250.

[0052] In the embodiment of FIG. 4 each of the sections 442, 446, 448 of the plunger 440 are formed of moulded plastic parts. FIG. 5 illustrates an alternative embodiment in which the intermediate 546 and trailing 548 telescopic sections are formed from flat, substantial U shaped elongate members. For example, the members may be conveniently formed from stamped metal pressings. The profile of one of the pressings is shown in FIG. 5b. It will be seen that the sections 546 and 548 may be simply interconnected by being slotted together and positioned such that they lie in perpendicular planes. Thus, the leading section 542 which remains formed of a moulded plastic part is provided with an X shaped internal profile into which the intermediate 546 and trailing 548 sections may slide.

[0053] Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 6, the intermediate 646 and trailing 648 sections may be formed from shaped tubular sections such as metal wire forms. The profile of each section is as show in FIG. 6b.

[0054] Although the invention has been described above with reference to the preferred embodiments, it will be appreciated that various changes or modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. In some embodiments the device may be a single use device and, for example, the syringe may be integrally formed with the housing.

[0055] Whilst the embodiments described above utilise a kinetic impact to create an indication it will be appreciated that numerous other forms of indication could be used as an additional or alternative indication in response to movement of the trailing portion of the plunger. For example rather than kinetic impact any form of energy could be utilised to create a noise, for example chemical, electrical, fluidic, pneumatic, etc. could all be derived from the motion of the indicator. In some embodiments an electrical signal could be triggered by movement of the plunger to, for example, activate an electronic sounder.