Special receptacle or package – For ampule – capsule – pellet – or granule – Compartmented
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-09
2002-01-15
Fidei, David T. (Department: 3728)
Special receptacle or package
For ampule, capsule, pellet, or granule
Compartmented
C206S001500, C206S528000, C206S531000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06338408
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a device for holding blister packs, and to blister packs.
One widespread form of packaging, particularly for medicines, is the blister pack. A blister pack comprises a thin resilient sheet, normally of plastics material, in which hollows or “blisters” are formed, all facing away from one side of the sheet. These blisters accommodate products, for example medication products, usually in the form of tablets or capsules. A tearable foil is sealingly attached to the sheet to cover the blisters and retain the products therein. To remove a product, a blister is pressed down, toward the body of the sheet, and this action forces the product through the tearable foil and out of the pack.
It can be problematic to have blister packs stored loose, particularly if the packs contain products which are dangerous for children. Accordingly, a number of devices for holding blister packs in such a way as to prevent easy access to the products have been proposed.
In one example, shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,323,907 (Kalvelage), the blister packs can be housed in a frame formed with openings through which the products may be dispensed from the blisters. The openings are specially shaped to provide partial obstruction to the passage of the products. The ability of the device to prevent access to the products thus depends on the level of obstruction, rather than the device having open and closed conditions respectively allowing either easy access or no access.
Another approach is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,527 (Lataix). This discloses a blister pack which folds inwardly on itself to form two halves arranged foil-to-foil, the two halves then being held together along their edges remote from the fold line by a locking device. There is however a risk with this type of arrangement that an implement such as a knife may be inserted between the two halves of the folded blister pack at its exposed side edges, allowing access to the foil side of the blister pack and thus potentially to the products.
A further approach is to put the packs in a container, in order to prevent access to the products when the container is closed. A container of this type is disclosed in, for example, U.S. 4,485,915 (Berghahn). In this document, a blister pack is held in a shallow tray, which can be slid in and out of a sleeve. There are no specific means to retain the blister pack on the tray, and if for example the sleeve is held upside-down when the tray is pushed out, the blister pack could simply fall out.
A similar container is disclosed in DE 3840080 (Lobermeier). Here, a blister pack can be slid into a holder. The holder has an array of holes arranged below the blister pack in use, which allow products to be pushed out from the blisters. The holes can be covered by a hinged cover to prevent the products from being dispensed. The blister pack can be easily removed from the holder, for example to allow an empty blister pack to be replaced by a full one. However, since the blister pack can be easily removed, there is a risk that children can gain access to the products simply by removing the blister pack from the holder.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a device for holding a blister pack, comprising first and second members operable between an open condition in which products may be removed from a blister pack held by the device and a closed condition in which products may not be removed, and retaining means for the blister pack allowing products to be removed from the blister pack when the device is open, the retaining means preventing the blister pack from being removable from the device.
The retaining means ensure that the blister pack will stay in its position in or on the device, even when the device is opened. If the blister pack is not retained in place, then it may fall out during the opening procedure, and in particular if the device is dropped when open, which is clearly inconvenient. Further, if the device is being used to store a number of packs containing tablets which must be taken in accordance with a particular dosing regime, having the packs fall out is particularly inconvenient and indeed possibly dangerous, as the packs may then be put back in the device in the wrong positions, leading to possible over- or under-dosing.
In addition, since the blister pack is not removable from the device, a child who manages to open the device would not be able to remove the blister pack from the device and then gain relatively easy access to the products.
It is preferred that the retaining means are tamper-evident. Any attempt to remove the blister pack from the retaining means will then leave obvious signs, which can alert a patient. Further, if the blister pack is to be inserted into the device by a pharmacist dispensing the medication, making the retaining means tamper-evident means that the device cannot then be reused in an unauthorized manner. This helps to reduce the risk of the device being used with counterfeit products.
The retaining means can be provided in any suitable form. For example, the blister pack could engage in recesses in the device, or could be held in by locking bars or the like. However, it is preferred that the retaining means be in the form of a panel which fits over the base of the blister pack. This does not greatly increase the size of the device, and also ensures that the blister pack is retained across its entire surface, rather than just holding it at the ends.
In order to allow products to be removed, the panel may have rupturable regions, for example, in the same way as rupturable regions are normally provided in blister packs. However, for simplicity, it is preferred that apertures be provided in the panel to allow products to be removed from the blister pack in the open condition without removing the panel.
It is preferred that a blister pack is held by each of the first and the second members, to increase the overall storage capability of the device. Further, this allows products such as medication to be divided into groups, for example tablets to be taken in the morning and tablets to be taken in the evening.
The blisters of the blister pack can be accommodated by the device in any suitable way; for example, they can fit into recesses. However, it is preferred that at least one of said first and second members has apertures therethrough. This can allow access to the blisters to enable the products therein to be removed. For example, if a blister pack is sandwiched between a first or second member provided with apertures and a panel provided with aligned apertures, then the blister may be accessed from one side of the “sandwich” and the product pushed out from the other side.
If both of the first and second members have apertures therethrough, then it is preferred that the apertures are staggered such that the apertures in the first member and the second member do not overlie each other when the device is closed. If the apertures did overlie each other, and blister packs had only been put into (say) the first member, then it would be possible to remove tablets when the device was closed simply by pushing them out through the corresponding aperture in the second member. Having the apertures staggered avoids this problem, as the tablet would then come up against a solid part of the second member, rather than an aperture in it.
The device may have a peripheral wall to prevent a knife or similar implement being forced between the first and second members when the device is closed. This helps to prevent tampering with the device. Preferably, the wall extends outwardly of the device, transversely to the general plane of a blister pack to be held by the device. Thus, in use with outwardly facing blisters, the wall may extend higher than the blisters, and so prevent damage to said blisters. If the wall is lower than the blisters, then if the device is dropped it will land on the blisters, leading to damage to the blisters und possibly the tablets therein.
Preferabl
Fidei David T.
Glaxo Group Limited
Nixon & Vanderhye
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