1(~9~672 This invention relates to a non-rigid two chamber container of flexible foil material for the administration of two single doses or two individual constituents, for example of medicinal liquids, and to a method of manufacturing such a container.
Single dose non rigid containers consisting of a cha~ber containing a substance have been proposed for instance in British Patent No. 1365848. In cases where two liquids which are incompatible with one another, but which have to be applied simultaneously or where two liquids are to be mixed with one another shortly before application, the use of two single dose containers which each consist of only one chamber and which contain one liquid or the other has proved disadvantageous because the packs can be confused very easily.
Although this problem can be solved to a certain extent by applying strikingly different identification to the outsides of the individual packs, this requires the preparat;on of two kinds of packs and, consequently, means higher costs and more spent on production.
Furthermore there are some areas of application in mediclne which occur in pairs, or example the nostrils~ the eyes and the ears. If known single dose containers are used, for such applications two single dose containe~swould be \
~ 2 --~ ~
1099t~7Z
required for the administration of the medicament.
According to the invention there is provided a disposable single-use ccntainer for liquid or semi-liquid pharmaceutical compositions, said container comprising a pair of separate compartments adapted to receive two single doses of the same pharmaceutical composition or single doses of two different pharmaceutical compositions, each of said compartments having a compartment discharge channel; a common container discharse channel communi~
cating with said compartment discharge channels at substantially the same location on said container discharge channel; an elongate flexible thread-like closure member having one end extending beyond said location in said container discharge channel and sealing said compartment discharge channels from each other and from said common container discharge channel, with the other end of said closure member releasably sealed in said common container discharge channel and extending outwardly of the container; which elongate container closure member can be pulled out of said container discharge channel, in use of the container, th0reby to provide a discharge opening through which the contents of both of said compartments can be discharged from the container.
mus the closure member seals the discharge passage outwardly and the delivery passages of the two chambers are cut off from one another, so that premature mixing of the contents cannot take place. When a double-cham-ber single dose container of this Xind is used, substances which are galeni-cally incompatible with one another can be kept separate from one another without risk and not mixed with one another until shortly before application, e.g. at the place of application.
The use of such a double-chamber container instead of two single-dose container~ eliminates any risk of confusion and entails a not inconsider- -able saving of cost and materials; the user has only one pack to deal with, which is more convenient for him in every case.
~ . .' . b.Y :~
.
1(~996~
Preferably, a container according to the invention consists of two malleable foils, for example two deep-drawable laminated aluminium foils, into which are impressed mirror-symmetrically t~o double-chamber halves, associated delivery passage halves communicating with respective discharge passage halves where the two delivery passage halves join together.
After the two halves of the foil have been sealed together, the discharge passage is filled a closure member in the form of a thread. The latter may consist of plastics material (for example, Monofil) or plastics-coated textile material.
One end of the thread shuts ~f~ thé Ju~ction of the two delivery .. ...... .
passages with the discharge passage and the other end is sealed directly in a tear-off tab.
The tear-off tab is formed from extensions of the webs of foil and has a weakened rupture point at the transition to the container. ~--Advantageously, the thread may extend beyond the junction of the two delivery passages, in order thereby to guarantee secure sealing of the two delivery passages from one another.
In this manner, the two liquids in the two chambers cannot be mixed with one another during storage or during transport;
this is necessary , for example, when the two liquids react with one another or are galenically incompatible with one another in the longterm.
~ -~9~67Z
The double-chamber container is opened by twisting and/or pulling off the tear-off tab from the con-tainer, in order to remove the opening thread from the discharge passage and thereby free the opening. As a result, the channel is open for the liquid to pass out o~ the chambers through the delivery passages and the discharge passage.
The two chambers can be emptied simultaneously or successively by exerting pressure, for example, by means of the fingers~
The containers are manuactured by sealing two foil halves stamped to provide the above-mentioned chambers and passages. The half sections are impressed into endless foil strips and the foil strips whose impressions are mirror-symmetrIcal to one another are then secured to one another in a pre-sealing operation, the chambers and passages being sealed~round first with the exception of filling openings .
.. ~
on the chambèrs. -A previously stretched thread introduced into the discharge passage at the same station is .~ ` . . .
simultaneously secured fast ln the tear-off tabby pre-sealing jaws and detached from the thread strand at a theoretical rupture point of the thread by pulling back the thread strand~
The two chambers are subsequently filled by means of filling needles through the unsealed filling openings of the ~chambers and are hermeticall~ closed a a final sealing station.
Accordingly the inventlon provides in a further aspect a 1{~9~6 7Z
method of manufacturing a container as above set forth comprising providing two opposing foil sections, each foil section having impressed therein a predetermined shape so as in the assembled container to form two separate chambers communicating with a discharge passage, sealing together said opposing foil sections in part whilst simultaneously positioning within said discharge passage an elongate flexible closure mem~er, one end of said closure member being positioned within extensions of said foil sections which form a tear off tab, and filling said chambers with the contents of the container through the unsealed part of the containers, and finally sealing the container.
A preLerred embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Figure 1 is a æhematic vlew of the container according to the invention, and Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of the container.
Referring to the drawings, there is shown a container formed from two separate foil sections having two separate chambers 2,2 each connected by a delivery passage 3 at a junction 4 to an elongate disch~ passage 5. Sealed within the container is a flexible elongate closure member 6 in the form of a plast.ics thread. One end 7 of,the thread q9~Z
projects beyond the junction 4 and the other end 8 is secured by securing means 9 within a tear-off foil tab 10. Tab 10 has a narrowed region 11 at which the tab will tear away from the rest of the container.
The container 12 made of two foil sections is stamped out of an endless foil strip which are sealed together.
The method of filling the container is as follows.
When the oil strips have been joined together, they are left partly unsealed so that the intended contents ~ay be introduced into the respective chambers 2 by means of a filling nozzle. The container is then ful~ sealed. To remove the contents of the container, the tab 10 is torn off and the contents of the container are squeezed from the container by squeezing each chamber separately one after the other, or both simultaneously.~
.
. , . ~ - .
~ ~.. . . .