Patents Examined by Laura C. Schell
  • Patent number: 7284474
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a piston pumping system for substantially gas-free measurement and/or pumping of predetermined quantities of liquids, preferably pharmaceutical liquids containing oxidation-prone ingredients. Preferably, the system is used as a micropump or as a component thereof in medical devices such as transdermal therapeutic systems, for example.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2003
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2007
    Assignee: Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH
    Inventors: Jutta Eigemann, Johannes Geser
  • Patent number: 7261703
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to a vascular blood containment that allows a user to determine whether a blood vessel has been accessed and which provides access to the vessel. The vascular blood containment device includes a compression seal having increased reliability. The seal permits the passage of gas but prevents the passage of liquid. A valve providing access to a blood vessel through the blood containment device is configured to conform to an inner profile formed around a bore of the distal end of the outer housing. The configuration of the device permits the blood containment chamber to fill properly when the distal end of the blood containment device is positioned below the proximal end of the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2007
    Assignee: Merit Medical Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Fred P. Lampropoulos, Brian W. Stevens, Gar Hendry
  • Patent number: 7252655
    Abstract: An iontophoretic apparatus comprising a housing member, a current distribution member, a medicament containment member and at least one of a lateral and medial straddling member. The straddling member are configured to correspond to the surrounding soft tissue.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2007
    Assignee: Iomed, Inc.
    Inventors: Jon E. Beck, Alex Koss
  • Patent number: 7252652
    Abstract: A pressure activated two-way slit valve assembly is designed to be used in combination with, but not limited to, a high flow rate catheter to prevent accidental ingestion of air or loss of blood if the closure cap comes off during non-use of the catheter. In addition, the potential for occlusion of the catheter due to blood clots in the catheter and catheter related infection is substantially reduced. The pressure activated two-way slit valve assembly includes a first end, a second end, a wall defining a dumbbell shaped channel, and a flexible, thin disk having a slit and positioned within the pressure activated two-way slit valve assembly to reside within the dumbbell shaped channel. The slit and the dumbbell shaped channel are sized to enable the slit to deform in response to a predetermined pressure differential across the slit to allow fluid to pass therethrough.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2007
    Assignee: Boston Scientific Scimed, Inc.
    Inventors: Harvey Robert Moorehead, Brian J. Bergeron
  • Patent number: 7223256
    Abstract: A medical line securement device holds a medical article such as a connector fitting for a catheter or a catheter adaptor in position upon the body of a patient and inhibits axial motion of the medical article. The securement device includes a retainer with a base and a cover. The cover is hinged to the base such that it may be moved between an open and closed position. The base and cover each have a groove which cooperate when the cover is in the closed position to form a channel through the retainer. The medical article includes an elongated body which is received within the groove of the retainer, the elongated body lying between at least a pair of regions of larger radius of the medical article. By receiving the portion of the elongated body of the medical article between the regions of larger radius, axial motion of the medical article through the groove is inhibited. The retainer may also include one or more slots to receive any radial projections of the medical article within the retainer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2007
    Assignee: Venetec International, Inc.
    Inventor: Steven F. Bierman
  • Patent number: 7211065
    Abstract: A needle stick protection device includes a housing shaped and dimensioned for positioning about a needle. The housing includes a first housing member telescopically coupled to a second housing member. The first housing member includes an open first end and an open second end. The second housing member includes an open first end and a substantially closed second end, the second end including an aperture shaped and dimensioned to permit the passage of a needle therethrough. The device also includes a mechanism for locking the first housing member relative to the second housing member wherein the second housing member moves relative to the first housing member to facilitate retraction and extension of the needle through the aperture at the second end of the second housing member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2007
    Inventor: Stuart H. Miller
  • Patent number: 7197359
    Abstract: The present invention relates to compositions for electroporation which are useful in elevating percutaneous absorbability of drugs, etc. By controlling electrolyte concentration of compositions for electroporation so as to make an osmotic pressure of the compositions not more than a physical osmotic pressure, the percutaneous absorbability of drugs can be elevated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: Pola Chemical Industries Inc.
    Inventors: Yoshihiro Tokudome, Koji Owaku, Kenichi Goto, Kenji Sugibayashi
  • Patent number: 7186243
    Abstract: A device is disclosed for washing or irrigating the vaginal cavity and the urethral ostium having a flexible container for the washing solution, an olive-shaped nozzle with apical, radial and basal ejection openings. The nozzle further comprises a stem to be inserted into the tube, to which a disc or cup is also fitted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2007
    Inventor: Giorgio Mezzoli
  • Patent number: 7182748
    Abstract: A syringe, for use in the delivery of a dose of a therapeutic agent entrained within a pressurized fluid flow, includes an upstream portion, an intermediate portion, a downstream portion, and an actuator mechanism for initiating a flow of the fluid through the syringe. The upstream portion is interfaced with a source of fluid under pressure. The intermediate portion, which is interposed between the upstream and downstream portions, includes first and second members that are coupled together to provide a closed pocket for containing the dose. One of the first and second members is moveable relative to the other within the syringe to provide an open configuration in which the pocket is opened to expose the dose for entrainment by the fluid as it flows through the intermediate portion and to and through the nozzle. Also provided is a capsule formed from the first and second members.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 1998
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2007
    Assignee: PowderJect Research Limited
    Inventors: Charles Potter, David Stuart Potter, Brian Bellhouse, John Christopher Greenford, Fiona Carter, Stuart Graham Weekes, Colin Sheldrake
  • Patent number: 7179243
    Abstract: A syringe with a snapping device for backward pulling the needle into the syringe after syringing includes a hollow barrel having an annular shoulder laterally extending from an inner periphery near a front end and two sector apertures defined in and extending through the annular shoulder. The snapping device is detachably secured in the front end of the hollow barrel and includes an annular flange laterally extending therefrom. Two snappers downward extend from the snapping device and are engaged to the annular shoulder to longitudinally position the snapping device. A first connector is formed on the snapping device opposite the hollow stub. A plunger is slidably and partially received in the hollow barrel. A second connector extends from a bulb and is selectively connected to the first connector for turning and backward pulling the snapping device into the hollow barrel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2007
    Inventor: Cho Ying Chen
  • Patent number: 7175610
    Abstract: A protector sheath for winged needle capable of accommodating a winged needle having a needle tube with a sharp blade edge, a hub firmly attached to a proximal end portion of the needle tube, and a wing provided on the hub is provided. The protector sheath has a cylindrical main body, at least one slit is provided in a side wall of the main body, a proximal end portion of the slit is provided so as to be parallel to the axis of the main body, and a distal end portion of the slit is provided so as to extend in a direction which is not parallel to the axial direction of the main body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2007
    Assignee: Nipro Corporation
    Inventor: Takeshi Mori
  • Patent number: 7128731
    Abstract: A syringe-type container for liquid medicine which includes a barrel provided with an easily breakable piercing needle at a distal end of a needle-connecting portion thereof; a gasket inserted and held in the barrel; and a guide means fitted on the barrel from the distal side wherein. The syringe-type container is so constructed that turning of the guide means relative to the barrel breaks off the piercing needle from the needle-connecting portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2006
    Assignee: Nipro Corporation
    Inventors: Masafumi Aramata, Hideki Yagi, Hitoshi Futagawa, Satoru Igarashi
  • Patent number: 7097634
    Abstract: The present invention includes an automatic injection device that reliably provides automatic needle retraction even when manufactured with part and assembly tolerances typical of low-cost and high-volume manufacturing processes. The injector of the present invention includes a body, a syringe cartridge, a drive mechanism, and a bias mechanism. The drive mechanism includes an energy source, a drive member, and a compound plunger with a releasable coupling. Significantly, the compound plunger included in the drive mechanism is designed to ensure needle retraction occurs after the automatic injection device has delivered the desired dose of medicament. Moreover, the design of the compound plunger included in the injector of the present invention can compensate for part and assembly tolerances typical of low-cost, high volume manufacturing processes, enabling the fabrication of a low cost automatic injection device providing reliable automatic needle retraction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2006
    Assignee: Alza Corporation
    Inventor: Scott Gilbert