|Publication number||US8021631 B2|
|Application number||US 12/505,705|
|Publication date||Sep 20, 2011|
|Filing date||Jul 20, 2009|
|Priority date||Dec 23, 2002|
|Also published as||CA2511175A1, CA2511175C, CN1728967A, CN100435730C, EP1578271A1, EP1578271B1, EP2289416A1, EP2289416B1, US8383041, US8574496, US20090275861, US20110314903, US20130131480, WO2004056269A1|
|Publication number||12505705, 505705, US 8021631 B2, US 8021631B2, US-B2-8021631, US8021631 B2, US8021631B2|
|Inventors||Werner Ruhl, Hugo Schrem, Volker Zimmer|
|Original Assignee||Roche Diagnostics Operations, Inc.|
|Export Citation||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan|
|Patent Citations (202), Referenced by (6), Classifications (20), Legal Events (3)|
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet|
The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/165,115, filed Jun. 23, 2005, which is a continuation of International Patent Application No. PCT/EP2003/014708 filed Dec. 22, 2003, which claims foreign priority to European Patent Application No. 02 028 894.0 filed Dec. 23, 2002, which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
The present invention relates to body fluid testing devices and more specifically, but not exclusively, concerns a body fluid testing device that incorporates a test media cassette which contains test media used to test body fluid.
General Fluid Testing
The acquisition and testing of body fluids is useful for many purposes and continues to grow in importance for use in medical diagnosis and treatment and in other diverse applications. In the medical field, it is desirable for lay operators to perform tests routinely, quickly and reproducibly outside of a laboratory setting, with rapid results and a readout of the resulting test information. Testing can be performed on various body fluids, and for certain applications is particularly related to the testing of blood and/or interstitial fluid. Such fluids can be tested for a variety of characteristics of the fluid, or analytes contained in the fluid, in order to identify a medical condition, determine therapeutic responses, assess the progress of treatment, and the like.
General Test Steps
The testing of body fluids basically involves the steps of obtaining the fluid sample, transferring the sample to a test device, conducting a test on the fluid sample, and displaying the results. These steps are generally performed by a plurality of separate instruments or devices.
One method of acquiring the fluid sample involves inserting a hollow needle or syringe into a vein or artery in order to withdraw a blood sample. However, such direct vascular blood sampling can have several limitations, including pain, infection, and hematoma and other bleeding complications. In addition, direct vascular blood sampling is not suitable for repeating on a routine basis, can be extremely difficult, and is not advised for patients to perform on themselves.
The other common technique for collecting a body fluid sample is to form an incision in the skin to bring the fluid to the skin surface. A lancet, knife, or other cutting instrument is used to form the incision in the skin. The resulting blood or interstitial fluid specimen is then collected in a small tube or other container, or is placed directly in contact with a test strip. The fingertip is frequently used as the fluid source because it is highly vascularized and therefore produces a good quantity of blood. However, the fingertip also has a large concentration of nerve endings, and lancing the fingertip can therefore be painful. Alternate sampling sites, such as the palm of the hand, forearm, earlobe, and the like, may be useful for sampling and are less painful. However, they also produce lesser amounts of blood. These alternate sites therefore are generally appropriate for use only for test systems requiring relatively small amounts of fluid, or if steps are taken to facilitate the expression of the body fluid from the incision site.
Various methods and systems for incising the skin are known in the art. Exemplary lancing devices are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. Re 35,803, issued to Lange, et al. on May 19, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,879, issued to O'Brien on May 15, 1990; U.S. Pat. No. 5,879,311, issued to Duchon et al. on Feb. 16, 1999; U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,983, issued to Douglas on Jan. 12, 1999; U.S. Pat. No. 6,183,489, issued to Douglas et al. on Feb. 6, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 6,332,871, issued to Douglas et al. on Dec. 25, 2001; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,964,718, issued to Duchon et al. on Oct. 12, 1999. A representative commercial lancing device is the Accu-Chek® Softclix lancet.
Patients are frequently advised to urge fluid to the incision site, such as by applying pressure to the area surrounding the incision to milk or pump the fluid from the incision. Mechanical devices are also known to facilitate the expression of body fluid from an incision. Such devices are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,879,311, issued to Duchon et al. on Feb. 16, 1999; U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,983, issued to Douglas on Jan. 12, 1999; U.S. Pat. No. 6,183,489, issued to Douglas et al. on Feb. 6, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 5,951,492, issued to Douglas et al. on Sep. 14, 1999; U.S. Pat. No. 5,951,493, issued to Douglas et al. on Sep. 14, 1999; U.S. Pat. No. 5,964,718, issued to Duchon et al. on Oct. 12, 1999; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,086,545, issued to Roe et al. on Jul. 11, 2000. A representative commercial product that promotes the expression of body fluid from an incision is the Amira AtLast blood glucose system.
The acquisition of the produced body fluid, hereafter referred to as the “sampling” of the fluid, can take various forms. Once the fluid specimen comes to the skin surface at the incision, a sampling device is placed into contact with the fluid. Such devices may include, for example, systems in which a tube or test strip is either located adjacent the incision site prior to forming the incision, or is moved to the incision site shortly after the incision has been formed. A sampling tube may acquire the fluid by suction or by capillary action. Such sampling systems may include, for example, the systems shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,048,352, issued to Douglas et al. on Apr. 11, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 6,099,484, issued to Douglas et al. on Aug. 8, 2000; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,332,871, issued to Douglas et al. on Dec. 25, 2001. Examples of commercial sampling devices include the Roche Compact, Amira AtLast, Glucometer Elite, and Therasense FreeStyle test strips.
The body fluid sample may be analyzed for a variety of properties or components, as is well known in the art. For example, such analysis may be directed to hematocrit, blood glucose, coagulation, lead, iron, etc. Testing systems include such means as optical (e.g., reflectance, absorption, fluorescence, Raman, etc.), electrochemical, and magnetic means for analyzing the sampled fluid. Examples of such test systems include those in U.S. Pat. No. 5,824,491, issued to Priest et al. on Oct. 20, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 5,962,215, issued to Douglas et al. on Oct. 5, 1999; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,776,719, issued to Douglas et al. on Jul. 7, 1998.
Typically, a test system takes advantage of a reaction between the body fluid to be tested and a reagent present in the test system. For example, an optical test strip will generally rely upon a color change, i.e., a change in the wavelength absorbed or reflected by dye formed by the reagent system used. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,802,842; 4,061,468; and 4,490,465.
A common medical test is the measurement of blood glucose level. The glucose level can be determined directly by analysis of the blood, or indirectly by analysis of other fluids such as interstitial fluid. Diabetics are generally instructed to measure their blood glucose level several times a day, depending on the nature and severity of their diabetes. Based upon the observed pattern in the measured glucose levels, the patient and physician determine the appropriate level of insulin to be administered, also taking into account such issues as diet, exercise, and other factors. A proper control of the blood glucose level avoids hypoglycemia which may lead to insomnia and even sudden death as well as hyperglycemia resulting in long term disorders as blindness and amputations. Blood glucose is therefore a very important analyte to be monitored.
In testing for the presence of an analyte such as glucose in a body fluid, test systems are commonly used which take advantage of an oxidation/reduction reaction which occurs using an oxidase/peroxidase detection chemistry. The test reagent is exposed to a sample of the body fluid for a suitable period of time, and there is a color change if the analyte (glucose) is present. Typically, the intensity of this change is proportional to the concentration of analyte in the sample. The color of the reagent is then compared to a known standard which enables one to determine the amount of analyte present in the sample. This determination can be made, for example, by a visual check or by an instrument, such as a reflectance spectrophotometer at a selected wavelength, or a blood glucose meter. Electrochemical and other systems are also well known for testing body fluids for properties on constituents.
As mentioned above, diabetics typically have to monitor their blood glucose levels throughout the day so as to ensure that their blood glucose remains within an acceptable range. Some types of sampling devices require the use of testing strips that contain media for absorbing and/or testing the body fluid, such as blood. After testing, the testing media contaminated with blood can be considered a biohazard and needs to be readily disposed in order to avoid other individuals from being exposed to the contaminated test strip. This can be especially inconvenient when the person is away from home, such as at a restaurant. Moreover, individual test elements can become easily mixed with other test strips having different expiration dates. The use of expired test elements may create false readings, which can result in improper treatment of the patient, such as improper insulin dosages for diabetics.
Test Media Cassettes
Analytical systems with test media cassettes which allow multiple testing have been described in the prior art. There are available dispensers which contain a limited number of test elements; as for example, 1 to 2 dozen strips which are individually sealed. Blood glucose meter using such a test strip dispenser are in the market under the names AccuChek Compact (Roche Diagnostics GmbH) and DEX (Bayer Corporation). Consumers, however, demand systems that contain even more strips to reduce loading actions to be performed by the user. A suitable way to package a higher number of test elements are test films as e.g., described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,218,421 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,010. These test systems are, however, designed to be used in the environment of automated laboratory systems and are therefore not suited for patient self testing. DE 198 19 407 describes a test element cassette employing a test media tape for use in the patient self testing environment. A number of practical problems are, however, still unsolved when relying on the device described in DE 198 19 407. Test media used for blood glucose testing as well as for other analytes are prone to deterioration by humidity from the environmental air. It is therefore a serious problem to keep unused test media free from humidity to avoid deterioration which would lead to incorrect analytical results. U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,010 discloses containers for test media tape which have an outlet for the tape which is sealed by a blocking member or a resilient member (see in particular FIGS. 21 to 33 and corresponding disclosure). This way of sealing is comparable to the type of sealing known from photographic film boxes. The automated analytical instruments of U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,010 have a high throughput and therefore the required onboard stability is short (typically one or two days only). Contrary to that, the required onboard stability in the home diagnostic market is much longer. Considering a patient doing two testings a day and a test media capacity of a cassette in the range of 100, stability of the test media cassette after insertion into a meter (i.e. the onboard stability) needs to be in the range of 50 days. The situation, however, may be even worse considering that the patient may have a second meter and uses the present meter only from time to time. In the field of blood glucose testing, onboard stability therefore has to be shown for at least three months. It has been shown that the type of sealing as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,010 is insufficient to achieve the onboard stability as required in the home monitoring environment.
It is an aim of the present invention to propose body fluid testing devices and test media cassettes which contain a larger number of test media than the body fluid testing systems currently on the market and which guarantee long onboard stability of the test media. Further, it is an aim to propose meters for multiple testing which are easy to operate and which have a handheld size.
According to the present invention, it was found that the concept of test tape meters can be highly improved. A test media tape is employed on which the individual test media are spaced one from the other so that free tape portions are located between successive test media. Such a test media tape is contained in a supply container which shelters the test media tape against humidity. Test media can be taken out of the container via an opening by using the tape as a transporting means. The test media which are still located within the supply container are protected against humidity by using a sealing means for sealing the opening of the container while a free tape portion is located between the sealing means and a surface of the supply container. This type of sealing enables very practical testing devices which can provide numerous test media without the need for the user to load the testing device with separate individual test elements.
Due to the spacing of the test media, the material of the free tape portion can be chosen mostly independent from the test media material to achieve a proper sealing with the described sealing means. It has been shown that tape materials as e.g., plastics for audio cassettes are well suited for this purpose. Suitable tape materials are plastic foils from polyester, polycarbonate, cellulose derivatives, and polystyrene. It is, however, preferred to choose non-hygroscopic materials which do not transport water or water vapour to a high degree. According to this, tapes without free tape sections between successive test media cannot be sealed properly since the test media material is porous and thus would allow humidity to flow into the supply container even when the tape is sealed according to the present invention. Further, the thickness of the tape in the free tape portion is an important parameter to control proper sealing. It has been shown by the inventors of the present invention that leakage of humidity into the storage housing decreases with decreasing tape thickness. While there are a number of interacting parameters, the particular effect of the tape thickness can be seen from
The sealing means is a means that closes the opening of the housing (container) in which uncontaminated test media tape is stored. The sealing means preferably is a body from a gasket material or a body of a material to which a gasket is fixed. Alternatively, the gasket may be fixed to the surface onto which the sealing means presses to close the container opening. Also embodiments are possible where gasket material is present on the surface as well on the body of the sealing means.
Further, it can be understood with view to
Gaskets are referred which have an annular shape such that they annularly surround the container opening. It has been found that with such annular gaskets, proper sealing can be achieved, while sealing with non-annular gaskets (e.g., straight-line shaped gaskets), proper sealing is much harder to achieve since it is harder to close the leakage at the ends of such gaskets.
The body of the sealing means as well as the body of the storage container should be made from materials which are mostly impermeable to humidity. This can be achieved by numerous materials. Due to production aspects, plastics such as polypropylene, polyethylene, and polystyrene are, however, preferred. The materials, however, do not need to be totally impermeable to humidity since it is possible to capture humidity which has diffused in by drying agents.
The sealing means further comprises a pressure means that serves to apply pressure to the sealing means body so as to achieve the sealing. Such pressure means are e.g., coil springs, pneumatic actuators, motors, electromagnets, compressed materials, or stressed materials. From the preferred embodiments, it will become clear that in particular elastic sealing means which in their rest position press onto the sealing means body are easy and cheap to manufacture.
The pressure necessary for proper sealing largely depends on the shore hardness of the employed gasket as well as the area to be sealed. The required pressure, however, typically is in the range of a few Newton or below.
Further optional measures to increase onboard stability of the test media will be described later on in connection with the specific embodiments.
A first general concept of the present invention concerns a body fluid testing device that incorporates a test media tape. The test media tape holds test media that are used to collect body fluid samples which are analyzed with a sensor. Advantageously the test media tape is housed in a cassette so that after the test media of a cassette are used up, a fresh test media cassette can be inserted into the testing device. The test media tape is indexed before or after each test so that successive tests can be performed without requiring disposal of the used test media. The test media can be indexed manually or automatically.
The test medium is a medium which contains a test chemistry that with analyte from a sample leads to detectable results. For further details of test chemistry and testing, see section “Testing General”. Preferably, the test media are designed to soak up the test fluid sample. This prevents the testing device from becoming contaminated by the body fluid sample. As will be described in more detail later on, it is preferred to employ a test media tape which comprises a tape on which test media are arranged with free tape regions between successive test media. The preferred arrangement therefore has a structure with regions as follows: tape with test medium—tape without test medium—tape with test medium—and so on. The tape can be made e.g., from conventional plastic tape as used for audio cassettes. The test media are attached to the tape, e.g., by gluing, welding, or by use of an adhesive tape.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a body fluid testing device for analyzing a body fluid. The testing device includes a test media cassette that includes a test media tape adapted to collect the body fluid. The cassette includes a supply portion that stores an uncontaminated section of the test media tape. A storage portion for storing a contaminated section of the test media tape may be further employed. Contrary to the supply portion which is designed to shelter the test media tape from humidity from the surrounding environment, it is preferred to design the storage section for contaminated tape to be open to some extent so that the test media which are soaked with sample can dry out. Such an open design may be realized by a plastic container having slits or recesses for gas exchange with the surrounding environment.
An important measure which advantageously can be used with embodiments of the present invention is a drying material within the test media tape supply container. Humidity which has entered the container by diffusion through wall materials or during an opening cycle is absorbed and cannot deteriorate test media. The sealing concepts of the present invention are, however, not obsolete due to the use of drying material since the amount of humidity entering without sealing means during the onboard time would be much too high to be cared for by rational amounts of drying material. Suitable drying materials are well known in this field of art, these are e.g., molecular sieves, silica gel, etc.
The present invention further proposes one-way devices where the test media tape belongs to the testing device so that the whole device is discarded when the test media tape is used up. Alternatively the test media tape may be arranged in a disposable cassette which is removably received in the testing device.
The term “body fluid testing device” will be used for both embodiments (e.g., with and without cassette) within this patent application. However, when embodiments employing a test media cassette are concerned the term will also be used to designate the device into which the cassette is inserted.
As described in European Patent Application No. 02026242.4 (European Publication No. EP 1 424 040 A1), which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, the test media tape onto which body fluid will be applied advantageously can be exposed in a tip-like shape to simplify body fluid application to a test medium. For this purpose the test media tape can be guided over a convex tip portion which may belong to the testing device or to the test media cassette.
The testing device further may comprise a pricking unit for pricking a body portion. The lancing opening of that pricking unit advantageously can be arranged in or close to the convex portion so that the tip portion (if present) can be used for convenient pricking as well. The pricking unit may be arranged below the test media tape and a lancing device can either penetrate the test media tape or can extend through a recess in the test media tape.
The testing device further may employ visual user guidance for application of body fluid samples. According to this embodiment, the testing device comprises an illumination unit which indicates by illumination a portion of a test element where body fluid has to be applied. The illumination serves for a timely and/or spatial guidance of the user to apply body fluid. Further the illumination may serve to indicate the location where to position a body portion for pricking. An illuminated area on the test medium may further indicate the amount (or the droplet size) of body fluid which is required by the testing device.
Another aspect of the present invention concerns a test cassette for collecting a body fluid sample. The cassette includes a housing that has a supply portion in which uncontaminated test media tape is enclosed. The housing further includes a storage portion in which a contaminated section of the test media tape is enclosed after contamination. For sealing unused test media against humidity, a tape is employed which has free tape portions between successive test media as already described above such that the sealing concept of the present invention can be employed. The sealing means of the present invention may belong to the test media cassette or to the testing device. Further embodiments are possible where parts of the sealing means, as e.g., a pressure application plate, belong to the testing device while other parts, as e.g., a gasket, belong to the cassette. Advantageously the container which houses the uncontaminated test media tape is closed against humidity with the exception of the opening which can be closed by the sealing means.
The cassette further may include a convex tip portion over which the test media tape runs and at which the test media tape is exposed to the body fluid.
In a particular embodiment, a supply reel is disposed in the supply portion of the housing around which the uncontaminated section of the test media tape is wrapped, and a storage reel is disposed in the storage portion of the housing around which the contaminated section of the test media tape can be wrapped. In embodiments which employ a reel for storing uncontaminated test media tape, it is preferred that the axis of this supply reel does not penetrate the supply container housing to avoid the leakage of humid air into the container.
Most test media are destroyed or altered by humidity, sunlight, etc. Therefore measures have to be taken to shelter the test media before they are used onboard of a testing device. A first measure is to package the whole test media cassette before use such that contact with humidity from the surrounding is prevented. This can be achieved by e.g., a blister package. Alternatively the cassette housing can be made being closed against humidity with the exception of the region where test media are exposed for body fluid application. Embodiments can be contemplated which employ a humidity proof cover over the exposure region which can be removed prior to use of the cassette.
Further this invention concerns a method of using a testing device comprising the steps of:
The method further may include the steps of:
A further step may be included in the above method which concerns a pricking for generating a body opening prior to testing.
It is preferred when the closing means can assume two distinct positions.
In a first, closed position the sealing means sealingly engages a surface of the supply container so as to close it and to shelter test media within it against humidity.
In a second, open position the sealing means is opened to allow test media tape to leave the supply container. The opening has to be wide enough to allow test media tape portions with test media (which are normally thicker than the tape alone) to pass through.
A method for providing test media therefore may comprise the steps of:
Again it has to be understood that, when the sealing means is closed, a free tape portion is located between the sealing means and a surface on which the tape is resting. Said surface is typically a surface of the supply container.
The closing via the sealing means preferably means that the sealing means is pressed onto another surface (typically a container surface) to generate a sealing of the uncontaminated test media tape against humidity.
Other forms, embodiments, objects, features, advantages, benefits, and aspects of the present invention shall become apparent from the detailed drawings and description contained herein.
For the purposes of promoting and understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended, such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated device, and such further applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated therein being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that some of the features which are not relevant to the invention may not be shown for the sake of clarity.
The humidity sealing principle is shown in
A body fluid testing device (10) is shown in
As can be further seen in
In this embodiment the pressure means (55) has the shape of a plate to whose underside the gaskets are fixed. It is particularly preferred to fix the gaskets to the plate by two component molding of plate and gasket. A spring means (not shown) for applying pressure to the pressure plate (55) belongs to the testing device.
A further important (but optional) measure to keep humidity away from unused test media is the diffusion channel (70) of
As can be seen from
Used (contaminated) test media tape is wrapped onto a storage reel (58) in the storage section of the test media cassette. Transport of the test media tape is made by a motor (110) of the testing device (10) which has a gear wheel for engaging with the gears of the storage reel and to rotate the storage reel. It is normally sufficient to employ only a single motor for winding the storage reel in a direction to move tape from the supply reel to the storage reel. For proper positioning of test media for sampling and/or testing it may be advantageous to move the tape in inverse direction as described before. This may be achieved by a separate motor winding the supply reel or a mechanics allowing a movement of the supply reel with the motor for rotating the storage reel. Further it is possible to employ a spring mechanically coupled to a friction loading means which is coupled to the supply reel. When tape is withdrawn from the supply reel by winding tape onto the storage reel the spring is loaded and the spring tension may be used to move back the tape a bit. This can be achieved by rotating back the motor and the supply reel will also rotate back caused by the spring tension so that the tape is still held under a sufficient stress to press it onto the tip for proper detection as well as to avoid jams caused by loose tape. By such a mechanism it is possible to properly position a test medium e.g., on the tip (20) when it has been moved too far at first.
However, it is preferred to avoid such a process by positioning of the test media by proper movement in one direction (the transport direction) only. Positioning of the test media on the tip may be achieved by the same optics as employed for reading the test media. It is, however, also possible to employ a separate position detection means which preferably operates optically. Detection of proper positioning can be achieved by employing test media and tape of different reflectance so that a reflectance monitoring during tape transport indicates by a change in reflectance when a test medium comes into reading position. However, it may also be advantageous to employ indication marks—as e.g., black bars—to the tape which are detected optically when they are detected by the positioning detection means.
The testing device further comprises a control unit which controls the steps of tape transport, opening and closing of the sealing, and reading of test media. The control unit or a separate calculation unit is further employed for calculation of analytical results from the obtained readings. The position detection means may also be controlled by the control unit.
The cassette further comprises a tip (20) over which the tape is guided. This (optional) tip serves for a convenient sample application by e.g., the finger tip. For more details of the tip and how the tape is prevented from falling off the tip reference is made to the copending European Patent Application No. 02026242.4, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. The cassette further has a recess for receiving a metering optics (102) belonging to the testing device. The part of the optics visible in
(Departing from the embodiment shown in
While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, the same is to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character, it being understood that only the preferred embodiment has been shown and described and that all changes, equivalents, and modifications that come within the spirit of the inventions defined by following claims are desired to be protected. All publications, patents, and patent applications cited in this specification are herein incorporated by reference as if each individual publication, patent, or patent application were specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference and set forth in its entirety herein.
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|U.S. Classification||422/554, 422/66, 242/381.2|
|International Classification||A61B10/00, G01N33/487, B65H75/30, G01N21/00, A61B5/15, G01N35/00|
|Cooperative Classification||G01N33/48764, A61B2010/008, A61B5/151, G01N2035/00019, A61B5/1411, A61B5/157, A61B5/14514, A61B5/145, A61B10/0096|
|European Classification||G01N33/487E2, A61B5/145D2B|
|Jul 20, 2009||AS||Assignment|
Owner name: ROCHE DIAGNOSTICS OPERATIONS, INC., INDIANA
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:ROCHE DIAGNOSTICS GMBH;REEL/FRAME:022977/0535
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Owner name: ROCHE DIAGNOSTICS GMBH, GERMANY
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:RUHL, WERNER;SCHREM, HUGO;ZIMMER, VOLKER;SIGNING DATES FROM 20050802 TO 20050804;REEL/FRAME:022977/0501
|Feb 25, 2015||FPAY||Fee payment|
Year of fee payment: 4
|Jun 23, 2015||AS||Assignment|
Owner name: ROCHE DIABETES CARE, INC., INDIANA
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:ROCHE DIAGNOSTICS OPERATIONS, INC.;REEL/FRAME:036008/0670
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