Needle assemblies containing oriented needles and methods for production thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12274668-B2
Application number	US-202418669727-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 21, 2024
Priority date	Aug 23, 2018
Publication date	Apr 15, 2025
Grant date	Apr 15, 2025

Abstract

Acupuncture needles may be used for piercing tissue with less trauma than may occur when employing larger gauge needles. However, because acupuncture needles are fabricated and packaged differently than are larger gauge needles, acupuncture needles may be less compatible with certain manufacturing processes. Needle assemblies compatible with manufacturing processes may comprise a continuous support material having a plurality of apertures defined therein, and a first injection molded coupler that surrounds a proximal portion of an acupuncture needle and connects the acupuncture needle to a first location upon the continuous support material, such that the acupuncture needle is held in a pre-determined orientation with respect to a longitudinal axis of the first injection molded coupler. The acupuncture needles in adjacent apertures may also be spaced apart substantially uniformly.

First claim

What is claimed is the following:

1. An inserter for an analyte monitoring system, comprising:
a needle hub comprising an injection molded piece surrounding a needle, wherein the needle is oriented non-parallel with respect to a longitudinal axis of the injection molded piece, and wherein the injection molded piece comprises a metal core that is coincident with the longitudinal axis; and
an analyte sensor, wherein a portion of the analyte sensor is configured to be inserted under the skin of a subject.

2. The inserter of claim 1 , wherein a proximal portion of the needle is bent.

3. The inserter of claim 1 , wherein a proximal portion of the needle contains a pinch point.

4. The inserter of claim 1 , wherein a proximal portion of the needle contains a combination of a bent and a pinch point.

5. The inserter of claim 1 , wherein the needle ranges between about 0.1 mm and about 0.6 mm in diameter.

6. The inserter of claim 1 , wherein a portion of the needle extending from the injection molded piece is held non-parallel with respect to the longitudinal axis of the injection molded piece.

7. The inserter of claim 6 , wherein the portion of the needle extending from the injection molded piece is held at an angle ranging between about 5° and about 15° with respect to the longitudinal axis.

8. The inserter of claim 1 , wherein the analyte sensor monitors an analyte selected from the group consisting of glucose, lactate, and ketones.

9. The inserter of claim 1 , wherein the analyte sensor comprises three electrodes.

10. The inserter of claim 1 , wherein the needle is an acupuncture needle.

Assignees

• Abbott Diabetes Care Inc

Inventors

• Cho Hyun
• Wang Yi

Classifications

• B29L2031/759

  Needles (medical needles B29L2031/7544) · CPC title

• B29C2045/14327

  anchoring by forcing the material to pass through a hole in the article · CPC title

• B29C2045/14131

  using positioning or centering means forming part of the insert · CPC title

• B29C2045/0089

  successive filling of parts of a mould cavity, i.e. one cavity part being filled before another part is filled (sequential filling to prevent weld lines B29C2045/0032) · CPC title

• B29C45/14598

  Coating tubular articles · CPC title