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(11) | EP 3 058 930 A1 |
| (12) | EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION |
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| (54) | BLISTER-HOLDER CONTAINER FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY CONTAINING TWO OR MORE DIFFERENT DRUGS |
| (57) An openable blister-holder container designed to receive two or more blisters (Bl,
B2) of a known type, each of which has a plurality of cells (A), each containing a
product, for example a pill or tablet or capsule, is basically made up of two parts
(1, 2), which can be set on top of one another and can be fixed together for containing
said blisters (Bl, B2), wherein said two parts (1, 2) are both provided with holes
purposely arranged in positions corresponding to the cavities or cells (A) that each
contain a pharmaceutical pill, in such a way that projecting from the holes of the
front part (1) are the cells (A) still sealed, whereas the holes of the rear part
(2) are in positions corresponding to the previous cells and to the breakable or tearable
part of the sealed cells to enable exit of the pill from the corresponding blister.
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[0001] The present invention relates to an innovative openable blister-holder container, designed to house simultaneously the blisters of at least two different drugs so that a person who has to take these drugs on a daily basis in a given temporal order will be facilitated in so doing thanks to the fact that these drugs are grouped together in a single support as if they had been packaged in a single blister that possibly has areas of different colours to facilitate assumption of the correct combination/amount of drugs.
[0002] In particular, the blister-holder container is aimed at the pharmaceutical sector in so far as it enables a patient under pharmacological therapy to know immediately the number and type of the pills that are to be taken out of the container and to follow the prescribed therapy properly.
[0003] Identified by the term "blister" are different types of packages made of plastic and used as containers for small objects, in particular pharmaceutical products in the form of tablets, pills, or capsules. Each package comprises a plurality of cavities or cells, each designed to contain a pill or tablet, which are provided with a breakable lid made of paper, plastic, or, very often, aluminium foil.
[0004] The blister may be opened by pressing with a finger against each individual deformable cavity: the pressure exerted by the finger on the lid, via the object contained in the cavity, breaks the container, thus enabling exit of the product.
[0005] With commercially available blisters, thanks to the transparency of the packages, the user has the possibility of viewing and easily keeping a check on the doses taken and on the ones still remaining inside the package.
[0006] Very frequently, however, pharmacological therapies require the patient to take in the arc of one and the same day combinations of drugs according to a given amount and to a very precise order. In many cases, if the drugs are not taken exactly as they should be, the therapy proves totally or partially ineffective.
[0007] It is hence of fundamental importance for the patient to take the above combination of drugs in the correct amount and in the correct temporal order.
[0008] Purely by way of example, it could happen that a therapy envisages that in the morning three pills of a first drug and two of a second drug are to be taken simultaneously, whereas in the evening four pills of the second drug and one of the first must be taken.
[0009] Currently, the patient must be careful to take two different blisters and to take out of each one different amounts of the two drugs, in different combinations according to the required schedule.
[0010] Among other things, the blisters are frequently very similar to one another, both as regards the colours and as regards the dimensions and/or arrangement and size of the pills. Consequently, it is not easy to distinguish one drug from the other when it is not in its own box.
[0011] Evidently, this mode of assumption, if followed autonomously by the patient without assistance of a health operator, can easily lead to therapies not being carried out as they should be.
[0012] It is equally evident that it is not thinkable to expect pharmaceutical companies to produce blisters that contain different drugs simultaneously.
[0013] The aim of the present invention, is thus to overcome the aforesaid problems by providing a blister-holder container in which it is possible to insert two or more blisters of different drugs so as to constitute a single object, of dimensions substantially comparable to those of a single hypothetical blister containing the aforesaid different drugs.
[0014] This has been obtained, according to the present invention, by providing a blister-holder container, housed in which may be two or more blisters of different drugs, which is basically made up of two parts that can be set on top of one another and fixed together so as to contain said blisters. These two parts are both provided with holes purposely arranged so as to correspond to the cavities or cells that each contain a pharmaceutical pill: projecting from the holes of the front part are the cells still sealed, whereas the holes of the rear part are in positions corresponding to the previous cells and to the breakable or tearable part for exit of the pill from the blister itself.
[0015] A better understanding of the invention will be obtained from the ensuing description and with reference to the attached drawings, which illustrate a preferred embodiment thereof purely by way of nonlimiting example.
[0016] In the drawings:
Figure 1 is a front view of a first embodiment of the invention, in closed configuration, with the blisters inside;
Figures 2 and 3 are, respectively, a rear view and a side view that correspond to the view of Figure 1;
Figure 4 is a side view of the container in open configuration;
Figure 5 is a 3D view corresponding to the view of Figure 4;
Figures 6 and 7 are, respectively, a front view and a rear view of the open container illustrated in Figure 4;
Figures 8 and 8A provide an enlarged view of Figure 5, with a detail that shows the hinge system between the two parts, as well as an example in which an area of the surface of the front part of the container is coloured or presents a finish different from that of the remaining area, to facilitate the user in identifying the pills to be taken simultaneously;
Figure 9 is an exploded view of the embodiment of the previous figures;
Figures 10 to 14, corresponding to Figures 1 to 5, regard a variant of the invention;
Figures 15 and 15A, corresponding to Figures 8-8A, regard the variant cited above;
Figure 16, corresponding to Figure 9, is an exploded view of the variant illustrated in Figures 10 onwards; and
Figure 17 shows a variant of Figure 8, in which an area of the surface of the front part of the container is coloured or presents a finish different from that of the remaining area to facilitate the user in identifying the pills to be taken simultaneously.
[0017] In the example that will be described hereinafter, reference will be made to the case where the therapy envisages daily assumption of two different drugs, in amounts different from one another, in the morning and in the evening.
[0018] With reference to Figures 1-9, the blister-holder container forming the subject of the invention is constituted by an openable container, with a substantially parallelepipedal overall shape, the dimensions of which are commensurate with those of the blisters that must simultaneously be housed therein.
[0019] In particular, the above blister-holder container is made up of two parts, the front part 1 and the rear part 2, which are designed to be removably fixed to one another to define a compartment that is to contain at least two blisters for containing different drugs, so that the cells that contain the tablets project outwards for each one of them to be pressed when it is necessary to take out the corresponding pharmaceutical tablet to be taken by the user.
[0020] Fixing of the two parts can be obtained with an interlocking system or else, as in the case illustrated purely by way of example, these two parts can be hinged together and have snap-action closing means on the side opposite to the hinge so that they can be easily opened for replacing the blisters after use. It should be noted that hinging of the two parts of the container can also be obtained without pins, using an elastic and bendable material of a known type that enables movement of opening/closing of the container itself.
[0021] As may be clearly seen from the figures, each of these two parts, the front part 1 and the rear part 2, is provided with holes having a size and occupying a position corresponding to that of the cells of the blisters housed therein so that the cells project from the holes of the front part 1 and each of the breakable or tearable areas for exit of the pills from the blisters are provided in a position corresponding to the holes present in the rear part 2.
[0022] According to a peculiar characteristic of the present invention, the holes present in the two parts correspond exactly to the shape and size of the cells of the respective blisters so that the place of the latter cannot be erroneously swapped round within the blister-holder container.
[0023] This characteristic is important also because the front part can be provided with appropriately coloured wordings and/or areas (Figures 8 and 17) for facilitating the patient and reminding him or her how and when the drugs are to be taken. If, for example, in the morning three large pills (of a first drug) are to be taken together with two small pills (of a second drug), the front part can be provided with an area characterized by one and the same colour that contains three large pills and two small pills together with the wording "MORNING", whereas the remaining four small pills of the second drug and one large pill of the first drug are contained/positioned in an area of a completely different colour and bear the wording "EVENING".
[0024] In this way, the utility of the invention is evident in so far as the patient does not even have to count the pills: it will be sufficient to take all and only the pills present in the area "MORNING" in the morning and to take all and only the pills present in the area "EVENING" in the evening, without bothering about anything else.
[0025] Obviously, if there are three drugs to take, what has been described so far applies in like manner, according to the combinations and amounts of the various drugs prescribed by the therapy that the patient has to follow.
[0026] A variant of the invention described herein is illustrated in Figures 10 to 15, but the modalities of operation remain unchanged.
[0027] In this variant, there are provided internal side tabs for withholding the blisters in position even when the blister-holder container is open so as to facilitate the user or the person responsible for administering the drugs when the blisters are to be replaced.
[0028] It should be noted that, according to a further peculiar characteristic of the invention, it is also possible to provide the patient with a different container for each day of the week.
[0029] This is particularly useful in the case where the therapy envisages that the amounts or combinations of drugs are different from one day to the next: in this case, in fact, it will be sufficient for the patient to use each day the blister-holder container with the name of the day in question indicated thereon, without bothering about anything else other than following the indications visible on the front part 1.
[0030] A further advantage of the invention is represented by the fact that its greater effectiveness and utility of use, described so far, apply without modifications also to the case of users who have poor eyesight or are blind in so far as the coloured areas may also have rough/smooth surfaces to make it possible to distinguish them easily and immediately merely by touch, providing symbols and/or wordings in Braille to indicate "MORNING" or "EVENING" or other periods of the day if necessary (e.g., "BREAKFAST", "LUNCH", "DINNER", etc.), as well as to indicate the days of the week, which can be identified with the name of the day or else simply with a number from 1 to 7.
1. An openable blister-holder container designed to receive two or more blisters (B1,
B2) of a known type, each of which has a plurality of cells (A) each containing a
product, for example a pill or tablet or capsule, said container being characterized in that it is basically made up of two parts (1, 2), which can be set on top of one another
and can be fixed together so as to contain said blisters (B1, B2), wherein said two
parts (1, 2) are both provided with holes purposely arranged so as to correspond to
the cavities or cells (A), each of which contains a pharmaceutical pill, in such a
way that projecting from the holes of the front part (1) are the cells (A) still sealed,
whereas the holes of the rear part (2) are in positions corresponding to the previous
cells and to the breakable or tearable part of the sealed cells to enable exit of
the pill from the corresponding blister.
2. The blister-holder container according to the preceding claim, characterized in that it has a substantially parallelepipedal overall shape, the dimensions of which are
commensurate with those of the blisters that must be simultaneously housed therein,
and in that the two parts, the front part (1) and the rear part (2), of which it is made up,
are designed to be removably fixed to one another to define a compartment that is
to contain at least two blisters (B1, B2) of different drugs, so that the cells that
contain the tablets project outwards so that they can respectively be pressed when
it is necessary to take out the corresponding pharmaceutical tablet to be taken by
the user.
3. The blister-holder container according to the preceding claim, characterized in that removable fixing of the two parts, the front part (1) and the rear part (2), is an
interlocking system.
4. The blister-holder container according to Claim 2, characterized in that said two parts, the front part (1) and the rear part (2), are hinged to one another
on one side and have snap-action closing means on the side opposite to the hinged
one so that they can be easily opened to replace the blisters (B1, B2) after use.
5. The blister-holder container according to Claim 3 or Claim 4, characterized in that each of said two parts, the front part (1) and the rear part (2), is provided with
holes having a size and set in a position corresponding to that of the cells of the
blisters housed therein so that the cells will project from the holes of the front
part (1), and in that each of the breakable or tearable areas for exit of the pills from the blisters are
in positions corresponding to the holes present in the rear part (2).
6. The blister-holder container according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the holes present in the two parts (1, 2) correspond exactly to the shape and size
of the cells (A) of the respective blisters (B1, B2), so that the latter cannot be
erroneously swapped round within the blister-holder container.
7. The blister-holder container according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the front part (1) is provided with wordings and/or areas appropriately coloured
to facilitate the user and remind him/her of the modalities and times of assumption;
within each area of the front part (1) there being comprised all and only the cells
corresponding to the pills of the different drugs that must be taken simultaneously
according to the therapy, without any need for the patient to count the pills, it
being sufficient for him/her to take all and only the pills present in one and the
same area of the front part (1) of the blister-holder container.
8. The blister-holder container according to the preceding claim, characterized in that along the internal edges of the rear part (2) internal side tabs are provided to
withhold the blisters (B1, B2) in the correct position also when the blister-holder
container is open so as to facilitate replacement of the blisters by the user or the
person responsible for administering the drugs.
9. The blister-holder container according to the preceding claim, characterized in that for the patient a different container is envisaged for each day of the week; for
this purpose, there being indicated on the blister-holder container also the name
or number, ranging from one to seven, of a day of the week.
10. The blister-holder container according to any one of Claims 7 onwards, characterized in that said coloured areas have rough/smooth surfaces so that they can be easily and immediately
distinguished also by touch, also providing symbols and/or wordings in Braille to
indicate "MORNING" or "EVENING" or other periods of the day if necessary (e.g., "BREAKFAST",
"LUNCH", "DINNER", etc.), as well as to indicate the days of the week, which can be
identified with the name of the day or else simply with a number from 1 to 7.