Patent ID: 6883222

Claim:
A method of preparing a sterile drug cartridge assembly, comprising: providing a drug cartridge; providing a nozzle sub-assembly, where the drug cartridge and nozzle-sub-assembly are adapted to be engaged together to enable ejection of liquid from the drug cartridge out through the nozzle sub-assembly; assembling the nozzle subassembly and otherwise preparing the nozzle sub-assembly for sterilization in a first cleanroom; sterilizing the nozzle sub-assembly; sterilizing the drug cartridge; and positioning the drug cartridge in a ready-to-use position within the nozzle sub-assembly, and filling and sealing the drug cartridge, where the positioning, filling and sealing are performed within a second cleanroom, the second cleanroom having a particulate-per-volume rating which is at least ten times lower than that of the first cleanroom.