Intraruminal Capsule with Dissolvable Overcap and Movable Piston
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current intraruminal devices and sustained release capsules for ruminant animals are limited in their ability to deliver complex release profiles, such as immediate or 'dump' doses of active ingredients alongside sustained release treatments, often requiring separate administrations and potentially failing to control parasites effectively throughout the entire payout period.
Innovation Solution
A sustained release capsule design featuring a hollow tubular body with a movable piston, a spring biasing the piston, and an overcap that is releasably attached by a dissolvable material, allowing for a secondary dose to be delivered when the overcap detaches, along with a modified piston to include an exit dose, ensuring precise delivery of both immediate and sustained releases without interfering with the sustained release mechanism.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a single-dose sustained release capsule is used, then the device structure is simple, but it cannot deliver complex release profiles requiring both immediate and sustained release
Solution Approach 1:
The capsule is divided into distinct compartments: a first compartment containing fast-release material and a second compartment containing sustained-release material. This segmentation allows each compartment to be optimized for its specific release function while together providing a complex multi-phase release profile that would be impossible in a single-compartment device.
Solution Approach 2:
The first compartment is nested within the second compartment, with the fast-release material housed inside the sustained-release matrix. This nested structure enables the fast-release portion to be delivered first, followed by the sustained-release portion, creating a sequential release profile without requiring multiple separate devices.
2Adaptability or versatility
If separate administrations are used for immediate and sustained doses, then complex release profiles can be achieved, but the treatment procedure becomes complicated and requires multiple administrations
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges the functionality of multiple separate dose administrations into a single integrated capsule device. The first and second compartments are combined in one administrable unit, allowing both immediate and sustained release treatments to be delivered simultaneously in a single procedure, thereby simplifying the administration process while maintaining complex release capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The single capsule device performs multiple functions: it delivers both fast-release and sustained-release active ingredients, provides both immediate and long-term parasite control, and eliminates the need for multiple separate administrations. This multi-functionality is achieved within a single administrable unit that combines different release mechanisms.
3Duration of action of moving object
If conventional sustained release capsules are used, then sustained release of active ingredients is achieved, but they fail to provide effective control throughout the entire payout period including exit dose
Solution Approach 1:
The first compartment containing fast-release material provides a preliminary high-dose treatment that acts immediately upon administration. This preliminary action delivers a therapeutic burst to rapidly reduce parasite burden before the sustained-release portion takes over for long-term control, ensuring effective protection from the start of treatment.
Solution Approach 2:
The capsule implements periodic action through its two-stage release profile: an initial fast-release phase followed by a sustained-release phase. This periodic delivery pattern mimics the effect of multiple separate administrations, providing both immediate high-dose treatment and continued lower-dose maintenance therapy throughout the payout period.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables the simultaneous delivery of a primary dose and sustained release of active ingredients, including anthelmintics and minerals, with an exit dose to control surviving parasites, improving parasite control and reducing the need for separate treatments, while maintaining the geometry and release dynamics of the sustained release portion unchanged.
Implementation Method 1
an overcap which is releasably attached by a dissolvable material, allowing for a secondary dose to be delivered when the overcap detaches
Implementation Method 2
a spring biasing the piston towards a second end of the body
Data Source
Figure 1~3
Figure 4~6b
Figure 7
AI summary
The invention relates to an intraruminal sustained release capsule which is capable of delivering a sustained release dose of a first medicament to an animal, as well as either or both of a dump dose of a second medicament or mineral, and an exit dose of a third medicament or mineral. The capsule can have a dissolvable overcap moulded from plasticised starch enabling a dump dose of medicament to be held between the overcap and one end of the capsule. A piston within the body of the capsule can be modified to enable it to accommodate an exit dose of medicament within its hollow interior which is aligned with an aperture at the end of the capsule which enables release of the medicaments to the rumen. After insertion of the capsule in the animal the overcap (if present) dissolves and separates from the capsule to release the dump dose of medicament. The sustained release medicament is then dispensed via the apertured end, followed by the release of the exit dose of medicament (if present).