United States Patent:  6,036,942

Assignee:  3M Innovative Properties Company (St. Paul, MN)

Filed:  July 6, 1998

An aerosol canister for containing a medicinal aerosol formulation. The canister involves a vial body and a valve ferrule sealed by first and second sealing members to form a chamber that contains the medicinal aerosol formulation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention provides an aerosol canister for containing a medicinal aerosol formulation, comprising:

a vial body, a first seal, a second seal, and a valve ferrule, wherein

the vial body has walls defining a vial opening, the valve ferrule occludes the vial opening and the vial body and the valve ferrule define a chamber, the first sealing member is disposed relatively nearer the chamber, the second sealing member is disposed relatively removed from the chamber, and the valve ferrule and vial body are in opposing sealing engagement with each of the sealing members.

The aerosol canister of the invention employs both first and second seals, e.g., a ferrule gasket or an o-ring and a second seal such as an o-ring, in order to reduce the rate of leakage of propellant from a medicinal aerosol formulation, particularly a formulation based on a propellant comprising a hydrofluorocarbon propellant (e.g., 1,1,1,2-tetrafluorethane) containing a polar cosolvent such as ethanol.

Claim 1 of 13 Claims

1. An aerosol canister containing a medicinal aerosol formulation, comprising:

a vial body, a first seal, a second seal, and a valve ferrule comprising a metered dose valve, wherein

the vial body has walls defining a vial opening, the valve ferrule occludes the vial opening and the vial body and the valve ferrule define a chamber, the first sealing member is disposed relatively nearer the chamber, the second sealing member is disposed relatively removed from the chamber, and the valve ferrule and vial body are in opposing sealing engagement with each of the sealing; members and wherein the medicinal aerosol formulation comprises a propellant comprising 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane or 1,1,1,2,3,3,3-heptafluoropropane.

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