Vaginal medicament dispensing means

Claim 2

An article for use within the vaginal cavity characterized by: a plurality of containers, said containers having walls releasably containing a biologically active agent, said containers being connected by a thin, flexible seal fin in the plane perpendicular to the plane of the article defining a means for holding said article in a substantially circular configuration comprising adjacent containers being carried by said fin in such manner as to provide points of abutment between adjacent containers.

Claim 3

A controlled release article according to claim 1 especially adapted to maintaining a useful concentration of a biologically active surfactant compound in the vaginal cavity, wherein at least a portion of the walls of said containers comprise a microporous membrane, and wherein said containers are substantially filled with a biologically active agent consisting essentially of an aqueous solution of a micelle-forming surfactant compound, said solution having a concentration above the critical micelle concentration of the surfactant compound.

Claim 4

An article according to claim 2 wherein the containers comprise cellulose.

Claim 5

An article according to claim 3 wherein the surfactant compound is characterized by a critical micelle concentration of at most about 1×10 - 3 Molar.

Claim 6

An article according to claim 4 wherein the combination of surfactant and cellulose membrane exhibits a monomer transport curve having a ratio of slopes S 2 /S 1 in the range of 0 to about 0.1.

Claim 7

An article according to claim 5 wherein the surfactant has an R value greater than 1.

Claim 8

An article according to claim 6 wherein the surfactant is a biocidal or biostatic agent.

Claim 9

A contraceptive article according to claim 7 wherein the surfactant is a member selected from the group consisting of spermicidal surfactants.

Claim 10

A contraceptive article according to claim 8 wherein the surfactant is a nonionic surfactant selected from ethylene oxide condensates of aliphatic alcohols.

Claim 11

A contraceptive article according to claim 9 wherein the nonionic surfactant is C 10 EO 5 .

Claim 12

A contraceptive article according to claim 9 wherein the nonionic surfactant is C 10 EO 6 .

Claim 13

A contraceptive article according to claim 9 wherein the nonionic surfactant is selected from C 10 EO 5 or C 10 EO 6 , or mixtures thereof, and the containers comprise waterswollen microporous cellulose having a dry thickness of ca. 5-25μ and a swollen thickness of ca. 10-50μ.