NORTON (WATERFORD) LIMITED

An inhalation device may include a canister elongate along a longitudinal axis, the canister containing medicament. The inhalation device may also include a movable inner housing that is configured to move with the canister when the medication canister is moved to administer a dose of medicament. The inhalation device may include an electronics module comprising a processor, a power supply, a sensor, and a plurality of contact pads. Further, the inhalation device may include a switch contact affixed to the moveable inner housing. In response to movement of the movable inner housing, the switch contact may be configured to move from a first position where the switch contact is not contacting the plurality contact pads to a second position where the switch contact is contacting at least one of the plurality of contact pads to change a power state of one or more of the processor and sensor.

Dry powder inhalers deliver medicament from a blister pack having a plurality of spaced-apart blister pockets containing doses of medicament. A housing accommodates unused and used portions of the blister pack together with a dispensing mechanism for selectively opening the blister pockets. A manifold component, through which air is drawn in use, has primary air inlet opening receives first external air and fluidly connected by primary air delivery conduit formed in the manifold component to air outlet opening providing external air from the primary air inlet opening into an opened blister pocket; medicament inlet opening receives air-entrained medicament from the opened blister pocket and is fluidly connected by medicament delivery conduit formed in the manifold component to medicament outlet opening that delivers air-entrained medicament from the opened blister pocket to the user. Air outlet opening and medicament inlet opening are arranged side-by-side to simultaneous communication with the opened blister pocket.

Disclosed are dry powder inhalers for delivering medicament to a user from a blister pack, the blister pack having a plurality of spaced-apart blister pockets containing doses of the medicament. The inhalers comprise: a housing for accommodating unused and used portions of the blister pack together with a dispensing mechanism for selectively opening the blister pockets; and a manifold component through which air can be drawn in use of the inhaler. The manifold component comprises: a primary air inlet opening for receiving first external air; an air outlet opening for providing the external air from the primary air inlet opening into an opened blister pocket, the primary air inlet opening being fluidly connected to the air outlet opening by a primary air delivery conduit formed in the manifold component; a medicament inlet opening for receiving air-entrained medicament from the opened blister pocket, the air outlet opening and the medicament inlet opening being arranged side-by-side to enable simultaneous communication with the opened blister pocket; and a medicament outlet opening for delivery of the air-entrained medicament from the opened blister pocket to the user, the medicament inlet opening being fluidly connected to the medicament outlet opening by a medicament delivery conduit formed in the manifold component. The disclosed inhalers embodiments provide a variety of improvements to the design of the manifold component.

The present invention generally relates to improved methods for the manufacture of inhalation powders. More particularly, aspects of the disclosure relate to methods for in-line monitoring of powder blending by Raman spectroscopy.

This invention relates to a fixed-dose dry powder inhalation formulation comprising fluticasone propionate and albuterol sulfate, together with an α-lactose monohydrate carrier. In the formulation, the albuterol sulfate stabilises fluticasone propionate.

A compliance monitoring module for a breath-actuated inhaler comprising: a miniature pressure sensor, a sensor port of said sensor being pneumatically coupled to a flow channel through which a user can inhale; a processor configured to: receive a signal originating from a dosing mechanism of the inhaler indicating that medication has been released; receive data from a sensing element of the sensor; and based on said signal from said dosing mechanism and said data from said sensing element, make a determination that inhalation of a breath containing medication through said flow channel complies with one or more predetermined requirements for successful dosing; and a transmitter configured to, responsive to said determination, issue a dosing report.

A device for delivering medication to a user may include a circular or elliptical body that include a mouthpiece, a flexible strip of medication, a lever, and a mouthpiece cover, where the mouthpiece cover is rotatable about the body. The electronics module may include a communication circuit, a sensor system, and a switch. The lever may be configured to actuate the switch when the lever is moved from a closed position to an open position. The lever is configured to advance a dose of medication on the flexible strip when moved from the closed position to the open position. When actuated, the switch may be configured to switch the electronics module from an off state to an active state wen the lever is actuated for a first time by a user. Thereafter, the electronics module is configured to not return to the off state.

A system may be configured for sending a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) request based on a location of an external device ( 502 ). An inhaler ( 100 ) may include medicament, an electronics module ( 120 ), and/or a Quick Response (QR) code ( 160 ). An external device may determine a URL and/or a medicament type of the inhaler ( 100 ) based on the QR code ( 160 ). The external device may send an indication of the medicament type and/or a location indication to a server that hosts the URL. In response, the external device ( 502 ) may receive an application store URL that is specific to the medicament type and/or the location of the external device. The external device may send a request to the application store URL to download software that is specific to the inhaler ( 100 ) and/or the medicament type of the inhaler. The application store URL may be specific to a country that the external device is located.

A system may include an inhaler ( 100 ) and an external device ( 904 ). The inhaler may include a main body ( 104 ) having a mouthpiece ( 106 ), medicament, and an electronics module ( 120 ). The electronics module may include a processor ( 1026 ), memory ( 1030 ), a sensor ( 1027 ), a switch ( 130 ), and a wireless communication circuit ( 129 ). The processor may generate a dose record in response to a dosing event. The dosing event may be an actuation of the switch ( 130 ) or measurements received by the sensor ( 1027 ). The processor ( 1026 ) may store the first dose record in memory and cause the wireless communication circuit ( 129 ) to transmit advertising data. The advertising data may include a dose record indicator that indicates that one or more dose records are stored in the memory ( 1030 ) of the electronics module ( 120 ). The external device ( 904 ) may receive the advertising data and determine, based on the advertising data, whether the inhaler ( 100 ) includes records not stored on the external device.

A system may include a plurality of inhalers, where each inhaler comprising medicament, a processor, memory, and a transmitter, multiple processing modules that may reside at least partially on a user device, a digital health platform (DHP) that is configured to receive and aggregate inhaler data from inhalers that are associated with a plurality of different users and a plurality of different medicament types. The DHP may determine a subset of the usage events based on the determined medication type, the determined time of day, and/or the determined date range. The DHP may determine a filtered list of users out of the plurality of users based on a comparison of the selected inhalation count threshold with the number of usage events that are associated with the same user and medication type.