The present invention relates to a device and a method for dispensing a substance, for example, in one use or application, for self-administering a product fluid, e.g., insulin.
The invention also relates to a container for a substance, in particular a product fluid to be self-administered, and to a device for administering a substance.
Devices for dispensing substances wherein the device is adapted and used for a specific application or use, such as insulin treatment, at a particular dose, are known. In such cases, due to the specific application modalities, it is necessary to produce different dispensing devices for different areas of application having different task specifications.
Some devices for administering product take the form of portable infusion and injection devices, some of which are used in insulin treatment. Generally, such devices, including those used in insulin treatment, involve containers filled with the substance to be administered which are coupled to an administering device in order to dispense the substance contained in the container via the administering device to a patient. There are a multitude of substances which can be administered in this way, such as preparations comprising insulin for diabetes, growth hormones (hGH; human Growth Hormone) for disturbed growth, erythropoietine (Epo) for renal insufficiency or general lack of red blood corpuscles, alpha-interferone for hepatitis or cancer treatment, or potency-stimulating agents. Such containers, which are often geometrically identical, are often filled with different concentrations of the substance to be administered.
In order to reduce the danger of confusing containers having different substances, variously formed administering devices are known into which the respectively corresponding containers can be inserted.
A container is known from WO 98/00187 comprising a color coding which can be attached to it, consisting of a number of variously colored fields, wherein a property of a container or its contents can be identified by means of an optical sensor system.