US 12,403,261 B2
Auto-injector
Yannick Hourmand, Haslingfield (GB); Timothy Donald Barrow-Williams, Herts (GB); and Matthew Ekman, Cheshire (GB)
Assigned to Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland GMBH, Frankfurt am Main (DE)
Filed by Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland GMBH, Frankfurt am Main (DE)
Filed on Jan. 16, 2025, as Appl. No. 19/025,123.
Application 19/025,123 is a continuation of application No. 18/498,416, filed on Oct. 31, 2023.
Application 18/498,416 is a continuation of application No. 16/909,107, filed on Jun. 23, 2020, granted, now 11,833,331, issued on Dec. 5, 2023.
Application 16/909,107 is a continuation of application No. 15/669,571, filed on Aug. 4, 2017, granted, now 10,729,853, issued on Aug. 4, 2020.
Application 15/669,571 is a continuation of application No. 13/993,528, granted, now 9,724,472, issued on Aug. 8, 2017, previously published as PCT/EP2011/073502, filed on Dec. 21, 2011.
Claims priority of provisional application 61/432,255, filed on Jan. 13, 2011.
Claims priority of application No. 10196067 (EP), filed on Dec. 21, 2010.
Prior Publication US 2025/0152827 A1, May 15, 2025
Int. Cl. A61M 5/20 (2006.01); A61M 5/50 (2006.01); A61M 5/32 (2006.01)
CPC A61M 5/2033 (2013.01) [A61M 5/50 (2013.01); A61M 2005/206 (2013.01); A61M 2005/208 (2013.01); A61M 5/326 (2013.01)] 30 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An auto-injector comprising:
a housing defining an opening for a syringe containing a medicament;
a sleeve disposed within the housing, the sleeve configured to axially move from a first position in which a needle of the syringe extends from a proximal end of the auto-injector to a safe position in which the needle of the syringe does not extend from the proximal end of the auto-injector, wherein the auto-injector is configured such that a clip locks the sleeve in the safe position once the sleeve has reached the safe position;
a plunger rod disposed within the housing such that a longitudinal axis of the plunger rod is aligned with a longitudinal axis of the housing, the plunger rod having a proximal portion that is centered on the longitudinal axis of the plunger rod along an axial dimension from an enlarged shoulder of the plunger rod to a proximal end of the plunger rod, the proximal end of the plunger rod being configured to engage and displace a stopper of the syringe to dispense the medicament from the syringe,
wherein the proximal portion of the plunger rod comprises two axially-extending portions having different outer dimensions measured in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the plunger rod and different axial dimensions measured along the longitudinal axis of the plunger rod, a first axially-extending portion of the two axially-extending portions is proximal to a second axially-extending portion of the two axially-extending portions, and an outer dimension of the first axially-extending portion is greater than an outer dimension of the second axially-extending portion;
an annular rotatable collar axially fixed within the housing and configured to rotate relative to the sleeve to increase an amount of time between medicament delivery and the sleeve arriving in the safe position;
a spring disposed within the housing for biasing the enlarged shoulder of the plunger rod in a proximal direction within the auto-injector; and
a decoupling member configured to allow a decoupling of the sleeve from the housing during a final portion of medicament delivery.