Details for Patent: 6,601,582

Title:	Dispenser with doses' counter
Abstract:	There is provided a dispenser suitable for dispensing medicament, particularly medicament for use in the treatment of respiratory disorders. The dispenser comprises a housing (1) having a support (5); a container (2), locatable within said housing (1), having an outlet (3), wherein said container (2) dispenses through said outlet (3) in response to movement of the container (2), relative to the housing (1); and an actuation indicator having an indexing mechanism (13, 43) actuatable by movement of the container (2) relative to the housing (1). A couple mechanism (13, 43) is provided which couples the indexing mechanism (13, 43) to the container (2) to compensate for any variation in pre-actuation positionings of the indexing mechanism and container.
Inventor(s):	Rand; Paul Kenneth (Redhill, GB), Brand; Peter John (Royston, GB), Godfrey; James William (Hertfordshire, GB)
Assignee:	Smithkline Beecham Corporation (Philadelphia, PA)
Filing Date:	Aug 20, 2002
Application Number:	10/224,000
Claims:	1. A drug product for dispensing a drug formulation comprising a propellant and a medicament comprising: a housing; a container containing the drug formulation having an outlet member and adapted to be actuable within the housing; an actuation indicating assembly fixedly attached to the container, said actuation indicating assembly including a body and first and second contact members, the first contact member including a first switch contact and a first circuit board contact, the second contact member including a second switch contact, a second circuit board contact and a battery contact; a switch slide adapted to contact the first and second contact members; and a display, wherein the fixedly attached container and actuation indicating assembly are reversably removable from the housing as a single unit. 2. The drug product of claim 1, wherein the switch slide is constructed from electrically-conductive silicone rubber or a non-conductive rubber having a conductive insert. 3. The drug product of claim 1, wherein the display is a liquid crystal display including an application specific integrated circuit. 4. The drug product according to claim 1, wherein the actuation indicating assembly includes one or more grip members adapted to fixedly engage a neck portion of the container. 5. The drug product according to claim 1, wherein the housing includes a mouthpiece. 6. The drug product according to claim 5, wherein the housing includes a passage adapted to pass doses from the container to the mouthpiece. 7. The drug product according to claim 1, wherein the container includes a metering valve adapted to dispense metered doses. 8. The drug product of claim 1, wherein the actuation indicating assembly is fixed to the container by an adhesive, a welded shrink sleeve, a heat form, a crimp, an ultrasonic weld, or an o-ring elastomer. 9. The drug product of claim 1, wherein the actuation indicating assembly is permanently fixed to the container. 10. The drug product of claim 1, wherein the medicament is selected from the group consisting of beclomethasone, fluticasone, flunisolide, budesonide, rofleponide, mometasone, triamcinolone, noscapine, albuterol, salmeterol, ephedrine, adrenaline, fenoterol, formoterol, isoprenaline, metaproterenol, terbutaline, tiotropium, ipratropium, phenylephrine, phenylpropanolamine, pirbuterol, reproterol, rimiterol, isoetharine, tulobuterol, (-)-4-amino-3,5-dichloro-.alpha.-{{{6-{2-(2-pyridinyl)ethoxy}hexyl}methyl} benzenemethanol, esters, solvates and salts thereof, and combinations thereof. 11. The drug product of claim 10, wherein the medicament is albuterol sulphate. 12. The drug product of claim 10, wherein the medicament is salmeterol xinafoate. 13. The drug product of claim 10, wherein the medicament is fluticasone propionate. 14. The drug product of claim 10, wherein the medicament is beclomethasone dipropionate. 15. The drug product of claim 10, wherein the medicament is the combination of salmeterol xinafoate and fluticasone propionate. 16. The drug product of claim 10, wherein the medicament is salmeterol xinafoate and a salt, ester or solvate of ipratropium. 17. The drug product of claim 1, wherein the housing and body are constructed from polypropylene.