Abstract:
A system allows for the safe, rapid, efficient recovery of a drug solution from sealed vials. The system is closed so that highly potent compounds can later be recovered and reworked without large investment in further engineering controls. The system includes three main components: a recovery device that holds sealed vials containing a solution, and provides means to access the contents of the vials; a peristaltic pump that pumps solution out of the vials; and a recovery tank that receives the pumped solution.

Description:
BACKGROUND  
       [0001]     The invention generally relates to methods of recovering material from containers.  
         [0002]     The products of the chemical, biotechnological, and pharmaceutical industries can be the result of immense investments of money, time, and effort. Occasionally a manufacturing or human error can create a problem. For example an unsafe contaminant could accidentally be introduced into the product, or a batch of the product could be accidentally packaged into non-sterile containers, where sterility of the product is required for safety. It may be desirable to recover as much of the product as possible, and then purify or sterilize it as appropriate.  
       SUMMARY  
       [0003]     In the embodiments described here, liquid can be recovered from stoppered vials by providing the vials upside down in a holding cassette over upwardly extending hollow needles. The needles puncture the stoppers in the vials and draw the liquid through a manifold to a vessel. The cassette with multiple vials can be manually provided in a holder and manually removed from the holder after the liquid is removed. The recovery process can be initiated with a safety feature that requires two simultaneous actions, such as two buttons to be pushed by two hands to prevent inadvertent actuation. The system preferably uses a peristaltic pump, which is preferably operated with a foot pedal actuation.  
         [0004]     Other features and advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description, drawings, and claims. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0005]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram showing the components of the recovery system.  
         [0006]      FIG. 2  is a detailed diagram of the vial holder and needle assembly.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0007]     The systems described here are directed to methods of recovering expensive or dangerous materials from sealed containers safely, nearly completely, and with high throughput. They can be used with benign materials or with materials that are unsafe for human contact; it could be toxic, explosive, mutagenic, or carcinogenic, for example, such that human involvement in the recovery process should be kept to a minimum.  
         [0008]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram showing components of an embodiment of a recovery system. The system has three main components: recovery device  100  that holds sealed vials containing a solution, a peristaltic pump  170  that pumps the solution out of the vials, and a recovery tank  190  that receives the pumped solution. In recovery device  100 , vial holder cassette  110  holds solution-containing vials  120  upside down, so the solution flows to the bottom. Vials  120  can be made of any sturdy material, such as glass or plastic, which is preferably transparent so that recovery of the material can be monitored.  
         [0009]     Caps or stoppers seal vials  120 , preventing the solution from leaking during normal storage and transportation. The stoppers are made of a material that can be pierced with a needle to allow the solution to be withdrawn without removing the stopper. The stopper preferably “re-seals” after being punctured. Rubber is an example of a useful stopper material. These features of the stopper reduce the risks of human contact with a dangerous material, of further contamination, and of losing material during recovery process.  
         [0010]     A needle holder  130  securely holds a row of needles  140  directly beneath vials  120 . The needles  140  have a hollow bore, and are sufficiently strong to pierce the stoppers of vials  120  without breaking. If a needle does break it can be replaced easily by twisting it off and twisting a new one on. When a user presses two cylinder push buttons  160 , an air cylinder  150  raises needle holder  130 , preferably to a height where the tips of the needles  140  barely puncture the vial stoppers. This way as solution is drawn out of the vial, the tips of the needles  140  stay immersed in the solution until nearly all of the solution is withdrawn.  
         [0011]     Tubing  180  connects each of the needles  140  to peristaltic pump  170  and then to recovery tank  190 . Pump  170  is designed such that the solution does not come in contact with internal pump components, but is transmitted via continuous tubing  180  into recovery tank  190 . Using such a pump allows the tubing  180  to be sterilized or discarded after the recovery process is completed, and also minimizes the risk of human exposure, contamination of the solution by the pump, contamination of the pump by the solution, and loss of the material into the pump. Recovery tank  190  has a vent filter  195  that allows gases, but not the liquid, to escape, and stores the solution until the user is ready to further process or purify it. In some embodiments, the liquid is reprocessed or purified by any needed means including by heating, filtering, disinfecting light, mixture with other materials, or any other desired process.  
         [0012]      FIG. 2  illustrates in greater detail the components of recovery device  100 , with the rest of the system as shown in  FIG. 1 . Vial holder cassette  110  holds the vials  120  stopper side down. A user locks cassette  110  into place in the device, where it is securely held in all three dimensions. Side rails  118  hold cassette  110  in place in the horizontal plane. Vial stop  115  and side rail adjustments  112  hold cassette  110  in place vertically. Vial stop  115  also prevents vials  120  from moving upwardly when the needles puncture the stoppers. Cassette  110  is easily interchangeable, allowing recovery of solution from a large number of vials in a short amount of time. While the cassette is shown with one row of 10 vials, it could be used with other plural numbers of vials in other two-dimensional arrays. The cassette can be manually provided with no system and fixed in place without a carousel or other moving device, although automated moving systems could be used. The vials can have a narrower neck and wider body, unlike a test tube, thereby creating a shoulder that can rest in the cassette.  
         [0013]     As described previously, needle holder  130  securely mounts needles  140  to be used for solution recovery. Holder  130  approximately centers each needle tip  145  on the stopper of corresponding vial  120 . The device holds needle holder  130  in place in all three dimensions. Guide rods  135  hold needle holder  130  in place in the horizontal plane. The vertical position of air cylinder  150  determines the vertical position of needle holder  130 . To adjust the vertical height of  130 , i.e. to controllably puncture the vial stoppers with needles  140 , the user simultaneously pushes two push buttons  160 . Two buttons are provided as a safety measure, in order to keep the user&#39;s hands away from the moving needles  140  and to prevent accidental starting. Other safely methods could be used, preferably including two simultaneous actions to start the process. Needle holder  130  stays raised as long as both buttons  160  are pressed, and then lowers when buttons  160  are released. When the user presses buttons  160 , a valve (not shown) opens, allowing compressed air at about 100 psi to raise air cylinder  150  to a pre-set height appropriate to the size of vials  120 . Once needles  140  pierce the stoppers at the appropriate height, the user activates peristaltic pump  170  with a foot switch (not shown). The needles  140  connect to manifold  155  with tubing  180 , which connects to pump  170  via additional tubing  180  as illustrated in  FIG. 1 .  
         [0014]     In one use, mass balances were used to monitor the yield of solution recovery, by weighing the vials before and after recovery, and it was found that the system recovered more than 95% of the material from 2 mL vials. Each cassette holds 10 vials, and by interchanging cassettes the device can be used to recover material from about 2000 vials per hour. The cassette is not limited to this size, and can be made as large or as small as needed to hold the desired size and number of vials. 2 mL is only provided as an example vial size, since it is commonly used for doses of drug solutions. Vials would not need to be used at all, but any container with a section that could be punctured without breaking or leaking could be used.  
         [0015]     In the described system the user locks the cassettes into place and controls the needle height, but an automated system for exchanging cassettes and controlling the needle height could be implemented and would allow for even faster throughput of vials. Also, while the described recovery system moves the needles to puncture the vials, the needles could also be held fixed and the vials moved downwardly instead.  
         [0016]     A solution is not the only material that can be recovered from sealed vials with the described system. If the vial contains a solid, or a liquid that is too viscous to pump out, the system can be used to introduce into the vial an appropriate solvent that dissolves the material. This is done by switching the recovery tank with a container of the solvent, and setting the pump to operate in reverse. The cassette holds the vials as usual, and the user presses the push buttons to raise the needles up to puncture the stoppers. Then the user activates the pump, which pumps solvent into the vials. This creates a solution suitable for recovery as usual. The user releases the pump and lowers needles, and then switches the system back to its original configuration, and operates it as described above. The switching can be automated.  
         [0017]     The needles  140 , manifold  155 , tubing  180 , and recovery tank  190  are the only components that come in contact with the material, and are preferably non-reactive with the material. If the system is used to recover different materials, the tubing, manifold, needles, and tank should be changed for use with each different material to avoid cross-contamination and also potential reactivity. The pump itself does not need to be peristaltic, but any pump that has the functionality of isolating the solution from contamination in the pump could be used.  
         [0018]     The system described here can be used with any liquid that should be recovered, including liquids that are expensive and/or potentially harmful, such as anti-cancer drugs.  
         [0019]     Other aspects, modifications, and embodiments are within the scope of the following claims.