Child-resistant packaging for pharmaceutical products

Abstract

A child-resistant package for pharmaceutical articles includes a blister pack having a product casing layer defining blisters, a foil closure layer enclosing articles in the blisters and a reinforcing layer preventing dispensing of each article until an access mechanism is used. Each access mechanism includes a puncturing element of the product casing layer and a tear-away element of the reinforcing layer defined by a perforation line. The puncturing element includes a pointed portion for separating a first end of the tear-away element. Application of pulling force to the first end further separates the tear-away element to expose the foil layer adjacent the blister for dispensing the article. According to one embodiment, the package includes an outer jacket having a mounting portion receiving the blister pack and a cover movable with respect to the mounting portion between opened and closed positions.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This application claims priority of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 777,346, filed Feb. 28, 2006.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The invention relates to packaging and, more particularly, to child-resistant packaging for phannaccutical products in the form of pills, tablets or capsules. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] Blister packaging for pharmaceutical products such as pills, tablets, and capsules includes a product casing layer and a foil closure layer. The product casing layer is formed from a moldable material to define blisters each adapted to receive one of the pills, tablets, or capsules within an interior of the blister. The foil closure layer is secured to a base portion of the product casing layer surrounding the blisters (e.g., by heat-sealing) to enclose the pills, tablets, or capsules within the blisters. To dispense the pills, tablets, or capsules from the packaging, a user depresses one of the blisters such that the ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009] The inner wall portion of the puncturing element is adapted to deflect under a compressive load applied to the puncturing element. This results in application of a separating pressure to the reinforcing layer and the foil layer sufficient to separate the first end of the associated tear-away element from an adjacent base portion of the reinforcing layer. The separation of the first end facilitates grasping of the tear-away element for application of a pulling force to the tear-away element to advance an opening in the reinforcing layer towards the second end of the tear-away element. According to one embodiment, the tear-away element is reduced in width adjacent the first end to increase the separating pressure for a given applied load. The tear-away element may also be made weaker adjacent the first end, for example by increasing the percentage of perforation in a perforation line defining the tear-away element.

Problems solved by technology

Child-resistant packaging for pharmaceutical products include features requiring certain cognitive skills for gaining access to, or dispensing, the pharmaceutical product such that access to the pharmaceutical product by a young child is limited.

Prior child-resistant packages, which desirably function to limit access to the contents by small children, also can undesirably limit access to the contents by elderly or infirm patients who, although possessing the necessary cognitive skills, lack sufficient strength or manual dexterity to manipulate the packaging in the required manner.

Also, the features of prior child-resistant packaging that operate to limit access may add significant expense to the packaging, particularly packaging requiring interaction between an outer package and a blister pack housed within the outer package.

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