Patent ID: 8057434

Claim:
An apparatus for delivering a pharmaceutical liquid to a patient, comprising: an outer casing; a needle cassette housed in said casing including a rotatable body and containing a plurality of mutually parallel drug injection needles, each injection needle has an associated septum piercing needle arranged parallel thereto and pointing in the same direction, each said septum piercing needle and its associated injection needle in mutual fluid communication; a single drug cartridge housed in said casing, and including a sealing plunger shiftable within a cartridge body in a direction generally perpendicular to the injection needles, said cartridge containing the liquid and including a pierceable septum for accessing the liquid; a direct drive assembly housed in said casing and engageable with said drug cartridge sealing plunger to expel a measured dose of the liquid through a septum piercing needle and its associated injection needle when the septum is pierced by that septum piercing needle; a lifter assembly engageable with said needle cassette to drive one of said plurality of injection needles and its associated septum piercing needle such that said driven injection needle extends partially out of said casing and into a patient and said driven associated septum piercing needle pierces the septum to access the liquid in said drug cartridge, and thereafter to withdraw the driven injection needle from the patient while withdrawing the driven associated septum piercing needle from the septum to halt accessing of the liquid through the septum after the measured dose of the liquid has been administered through the septum piercing needle and the injection needle, and thereafter to rotate the rotatable body to index the next one of said plurality of injection needles and its associated septum piercing needle for use with the single drug cartridge and its pierceable septum; motor means for driving said direct drive assembly and said lifter assembly; computer means for activating said direct drive assembly and said lifter assembly; and a control panel for enabling a user to activate said apparatus.