Sequential Tablet Bolus for Adaptive Animal Dosing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional bolus delivery devices for medicaments in animals do not adequately account for growth rates in juvenile animals, leading to either excessive or insufficient medication, which can result in drug resistance and ineffective treatment of parasitic infestations.
Innovation Solution
A bolus design featuring a sequential arrangement of tablets with increasing size and active substance content, separated by blank tablets, ensures a progressive and proportional release of medication to match the animal's growing body mass, using a biocompatible housing and controlled erosion rate to maintain effective dosing over time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a bolus delivers a fixed amount of active substance, then the dosing is simple and consistent, but the medication becomes insufficient for growing animals and excessive for smaller animals
Solution Approach 1:
The bolus is segmented into multiple tablets arranged in sequence within the housing. Each tablet contains a specific amount of active substance, and the tablets are positioned to erode sequentially as the bolus moves through the rumen. This segmentation allows the total active substance delivery to be divided into progressive doses that match the animal's growth rate, resolving the contradiction between fixed dosing simplicity and adaptability to varying body masses.
Solution Approach 2:
Different tablets within the bolus have different local qualities in terms of active substance content. The tablets are formulated with increasing amounts of active substance from first to last, creating a gradient of local qualities that corresponds to the animal's growth trajectory. This allows the bolus to adapt to different body masses without requiring different bolus designs, resolving the contradiction between dosing consistency and adaptability.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the bolus releases medicament at a constant rate, then the erosion control is simple, but the medication level does not match the animal's increasing body mass
Solution Approach 1:
The tablets are pre-arranged in the housing in a specific sequence before the bolus is administered. The preliminary arrangement ensures that as tablets erode sequentially, the active substance is released in progressively increasing amounts that match the animal's growth rate. This preliminary action resolves the contradiction between simple erosion control and adaptive dosage adjustment for growth.
Solution Approach 2:
The parameter of active substance quantity per tablet is changed progressively from one tablet to the next. Instead of constant quantity tablets, the invention uses tablets with increasing active substance parameters (e.g., 10mg, 20mg, 30mg, 40mg) to match the animal's growth. This parameter change resolves the contradiction between constant release rate simplicity and growth-adaptive dosing.
3Reliability
If a bolus is designed for adult animals, then the dosage is sufficient for adults, but the medication exceeds safe thresholds for calves
Solution Approach 1:
The bolus design incorporates dynamic dosing through sequential tablet erosion. Instead of a static fixed-dose bolus, the dynamic arrangement of tablets with increasing active substance content allows the dosage to evolve over time as tablets erode sequentially. This dynamic approach ensures safety for calves (lower initial doses) while providing sufficient treatment for adults (higher cumulative doses), resolving the contradiction between safety and adaptability across different animal sizes.
4Duration of action of stationary object
If the bolus remains in the rumen for several months, then repeated dosing is avoided, but the fixed dosage becomes inadequate for rapidly growing calves
Solution Approach 1:
The bolus provides continuous useful action over several months through sequential tablet erosion. The continuous release of active substance, with increasing amounts from each successive tablet, maintains effective treatment levels throughout the animal's growth period. This continuous adaptive dosing resolves the contradiction between long-duration treatment (avoiding repeated dosing) and dosage adequacy during rapid growth phases.
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
This design compensates for growth rates in juvenile animals, maintaining effective medication levels and preventing drug resistance by incrementally increasing dosage as the animal grows, allowing for extended treatment periods without repeated dosing.
Implementation Method 1
the rumen fluids of the stomach act to erode the exposed tablet, thus releasing the medicament into the circulatory system of the animal
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
AI summary
A bolus for administration of a substance to an animal, the bolus including An external coating, and A core inside the external coating wherein the core is formed from a plurality of dosage media, wherein each dosage media contains a substance, the bolus characterised in that the dosage media are ordered within the bolus such that the amount of substance released by each dosage media is progressively more than the amount of substance released by the previous dosage media.