This application is the U.S. national phase of International Application No. PCT/GB2018/050055 filed 10 Jan. 2018 which designated the U.S. and claims priority to GB Patent Application No. 1700609.9 filed 13 Jan. 2017, the entire contents of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to a cartridge for dispensing liquid treatments onto human or animal body parts. It is primarily directed to applying liquid treatments to a human or animal body part for medical or veterinary purposes.

BACKGROUND ART

Provision of drugs and other medical veterinary treatments has been usually by injection, pills, and nasal sprays; more recently transdermal patches have been used to deliver a measured amount of the drug or other treatment concerned. In this specification “treatment” includes pre-treatments of persons to minimise their risk of reaction if subsequently exposed, for example, to hazardous gases.

A small number of drugs are available in spray-on formulations, but these require significant dexterity to apply and give very inconsistent doses due to variation in the accuracy of the user, the distance of the spray from the target and the number of times and force with which the nozzle is pressed.

PTL 0001: WO WO 2015/028787.(AAN MEDICAL LIMITED) May 3, 2015 addressed the issue of ensuring the accuracy of delivery of the drug or other treatment concerned avoiding the need, in the case of transdermal treatments, to use patches ensuring that the patch continues to adhere sufficiently to enable the drug or other treatment to cross the skin barrier for a long enough time for the treatment to be effective.

However, if the device of WO2015/028787 is used for different drugs (or with different patients), there will be a need in many cases to clean the components of the device to medical standards after use and before subsequent use because of the risk of cross contamination between treatments administered on different occasions. This can be a time consuming task. Furthermore, the pressures at the nozzles of the device of WO2015/028787 may differ running the risk of uneven application on the surface of the body to be treated.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention a cartridge for liquid treatments of a human or animal body comprises a cartridge shaped as a U or a hoop and having an internal container containing treatment joined to one or a plurality of nozzles projecting through the wall of the cartridge inwards from the cartridge towards the centre of the U or hoop, wherein application of pressure to the container expels liquid treatment through the one or plurality of nozzles in the cartridge.

In one embodiment of the invention the container is connected to a cam operated displacement actuator, the cam being driven by a motor in the U or hoop member.

In another embodiment the cartridge is divided internally to form the container which has a deformable wall and a chamber is around the container, the chamber is separated from the treatment by the deformable wall, and wherein deformation of the deformable wall by increasing pressure in the chamber expels liquid treatment through the one or plurality of nozzles.

In a further embodiment the chamber is separated from the container by an elasticated diaphragm and chamber is initially evacuated, the vacuum created extending the elasticated diaphragm and holding the treatment in the container under the vacuum until the vacuum is broken relaxing the elasticated diaphragm and decreasing the volume of the container to expel treatment through the one or plurality of nozzles.

In a yet further embodiment of the invention the container has a plunger and the container is connected by tubes to the one or plurality of nozzles, depression of the plunger expelling treatment from the container through the tubes to the one or plurality of nozzles, the cartridge additionally comprising an actuator connected to the plunger operation of the actuator depressing the plunger releasing treatment from the container.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the cartridge contains both a pump in addition to the container containing the treatment.

In the latter embodiment the base, additionally, may have a data connection to the cartridge.

In the latter embodiment the base, additionally, may have an electrical connection to the cartridge through which operation of the pump is controlled.

Other features of the invention are set out in the accompanying description and claims.

