US 12,329,937 B2
Auto-injector
Matthew Ekman, Cheshire (GB); Yannick Hourmand, Haslingfield (GB); and Timothy Donald Barrow-Williams, St. Albans Herts (GB)
Assigned to Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland GMBH, Frankfurt am Main (DE)
Filed by Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland GMBH, Frankfurt am Main (DE)
Filed on Dec. 18, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/986,595.
Application 18/986,595 is a continuation of application No. 17/719,441, filed on Apr. 13, 2022, granted, now 12,257,421.
Application 17/719,441 is a continuation of application No. 16/809,669, filed on Mar. 5, 2020, granted, now 11,311,671, issued on Apr. 26, 2022.
Application 16/809,669 is a continuation of application No. 15/880,251, filed on Jan. 25, 2018, granted, now 10,603,436, issued on Mar. 31, 2020.
Application 15/880,251 is a continuation of application No. 15/165,720, filed on May 26, 2016, granted, now 9,931,471, issued on Apr. 3, 2018.
Application 15/165,720 is a continuation of application No. 13/806,324, granted, now 9,352,088, issued on May 31, 2016, previously published as PCT/EP2011/060726, filed on Jun. 27, 2011.
Claims priority of application No. 10167506 (EP), filed on Jun. 28, 2010.
Prior Publication US 2025/0127988 A1, Apr. 24, 2025
Int. Cl. A61M 5/20 (2006.01); A61M 5/32 (2006.01)
CPC A61M 5/2033 (2013.01) [A61M 5/3202 (2013.01); A61M 5/3257 (2013.01); A61M 2005/206 (2013.01); A61M 2005/208 (2013.01)] 30 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An auto-injector for administering a dose of a liquid medicament, comprising:
an elongate housing arranged to contain a syringe with a hollow needle and a stopper for sealing the syringe and displacing the liquid medicament, the elongate housing having a distal end and a proximal end with an orifice intended to be applied against an injection site, wherein the syringe is slidably arranged with respect to the elongate housing;
spring means capable of, upon activation, pushing the hollow needle from a covered position inside the elongate housing into an advanced position through the orifice and past the proximal end, and operating the syringe to supply the dose of the liquid medicament;
activating means arranged to lock the spring means in a pressurized state prior to manual operation and capable of, upon manual operation, releasing the spring means for injection, wherein the spring means comprises a drive spring in a shape of a compression spring and is arranged to be grounded at a distal end for advancing the hollow needle and for injecting the dose of the liquid medicament via a plunger, the activating means comprises a trigger button, and the plunger is arranged for pushing the syringe and the stopper in a proximal direction;
an interlock sleeve movable relative to the elongate housing between a first position and a second position, wherein the trigger button is rotationally coupled to the interlock sleeve such that moving the interlock sleeve from the first position to the second position rotates the trigger button for allowing manual operation of the activating means to release the drive spring;
a retraction sleeve axially movable in the elongate housing, wherein the drive spring is arranged inside the retraction sleeve with its distal end bearing against a distal end face of the retraction sleeve; and
a resilient decoupling arm supportable by a wall of the retraction sleeve in order to prevent the resilient decoupling arm from being flexed relative to the retraction sleeve, wherein the resilient decoupling arm is arranged to flex relative to the retraction sleeve when the plunger moves in the proximal direction nearly into a maximum proximal position, thus allowing the retraction sleeve to move in distal direction and retract the hollow needle,
wherein the syringe is arranged for joint axial movement with a syringe holder which is slidably arranged in the retraction sleeve, wherein the syringe holder is provided with at least one syringe holder portion arranged at a distal end of the syringe holder, the at least one syringe holder portion configured to bear against the plunger while surrounding opposite sides of the plunger.