Melt-extruded composition comprising a cellulose ether

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9364546-B2
Application number	US-201314389838-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 8, 2013
Priority date	Apr 11, 2012
Publication date	Jun 14, 2016
Grant date	Jun 14, 2016

Abstract

A melt-extruded polymer composition comprising a) at least one cellulose ether, b) one or more active ingredients and c) one or more optional additives, wherein said at least one cellulose ether has an MS (hydroxyalkyl) of 0.05 to 0.55 and hydroxyl groups of anhydroglucose units are substituted with methyl groups such that [s23/s26−0.2*MS(hydroxyalkyl)] is 0.32 or less, wherein s23 is the molar fraction of anhydroglucose units wherein only the two hydroxyl groups in the 2- and 3-positions of the anhydroglucose unit are substituted with a methyl group and wherein s26 is the molar fraction of anhydroglucose units wherein only the two hydroxyl groups in the 2- and 6-positions of the anhydroglucose unit are substituted with a methyl group.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A melt-extruded polymer composition comprising a) at least one cellulose ether, b) one or more active ingredients and c) one or more optional additives, wherein said at least one cellulose ether has anhydroglucose units joined by 1-4 linkages and has methyl groups, hydroxyalkyl groups, and optionally alkyl groups being different from methyl as substituents such that
said at least one cellulose ether has an MS (hydroxyalkyl) of 0.05 to 0.55
and
hydroxyl groups of anhydroglucose units are substituted with methyl groups such that [s23/s26−0.2*MS(hydroxyalkyl)] is 0.28 or less,
wherein s23 is the molar fraction of anhydroglucose units wherein only the two hydroxyl groups in the 2- and 3-positions of the anhydroglucose unit are substituted with a methyl group and
wherein s26 is the molar fraction of anhydroglucose units wherein only the two hydroxyl groups in the 2- and 6-positions of the anhydroglucose unit are substituted with a methyl group.

2. The melt-extruded polymer composition of claim 1 wherein said at least one cellulose ether is a hydroxyalkyl methyl cellulose.

3. The melt-extruded polymer composition of claim 2 wherein said at least one cellulose ether is a hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose.

4. The melt-extruded polymer composition of claim 1 wherein said at least one cellulose ether has an [s23/s26−0.2*MS(hydroxyalkyl)] of 0.25 or less.

5. The melt-extruded polymer composition of claim 1 wherein said at least one cellulose ether has a DS(methyl) of 1.2 to 2.2.

6. The melt-extruded polymer composition of claim 1 comprising from 20 to 99.9 percent of at least one cellulose ether a) and from 0.1 to 80 percent of one or more active ingredients b), based on the total weight of a) and b).

7. The melt-extruded polymer composition of claim 1 which optionally comprises further comprises one or more polymers which are different from said at least one cellulose ether a) such that the amount of said at least one cellulose ether a) is from at least 55 to 100 percent, based on the total weight of the polymers.

8. The melt-extruded polymer composition of claim 1 wherein the combined amounts of said at least one cellulose ether a) and said one or more active ingredients b) are at least 70 percent, based on the total weight of the polymer composition.

9. The melt-extruded polymer composition of claim 1 in the form of strands, pellets, granules, pills, tablets, caplets, microparticles, fillings of capsules or injection molded capsules or in the form of a powder, film, paste, cream, suspension or slurry.

10. A process for producing a melt-extruded polymer composition comprising the steps of
i) blending a) at least one cellulose ether, b) one or more active ingredients and c) one or more optional additives, and
ii) subjecting the blend to melt-extrusion,
wherein said at least one cellulose ether has anhydroglucose units joined by 1-4 linkages and has methyl groups, hydroxyalkyl groups, and optionally alkyl groups being different from methyl as substituents such that
said at least one cellulose ether has an MS (hydroxyalkyl) of 0.05 to 0.55
and
hydroxyl groups of anhydroglucose units are substituted with methyl groups such that [s23/s26−0.2*MS(hydroxyalkyl)] is 0.28 or less,
wherein s23 is the molar fraction of anhydroglucose units wherein only the two hydroxyl groups in the 2- and 3-positions of the anhydroglucose unit are substituted with a methyl group and
wherein s26 is the molar fraction of anhydroglucose units wherein only the two hydroxyl groups in the 2- and 6-positions of the anhydroglucose unit are substituted with a methyl group.

11. The process of claim 10 , further comprising the step of (iii) subjecting the melt-extruded blend to shaping, molding, chopping, grinding, spheronizing into beads, cutting into strands, or tableting.

12. The process of claim 10 comprising the steps of subjecting the blend to melt-extrusion to produce strands and comminuting the melt-extruded strands to beads, pellets, granules, tablets or a powder.

13. The process of claim 10 comprising the step of subjecting the blend to melt-extrusion to produce a film and comprising the optional steps of
I) cutting the melt-extruded film into pieces, or
II) combining the melt-extruded film with one or more other films during or after melt-extrusion to produce a multi-layer film, with or without subsequently cutting the film into pieces.

14. The process of claim 10 comprising the steps of subjecting the blend to melt-extrusion and contacting the melt-extruded blend with pins to manufacture capsules.

15. The melt-extruded polymer composition of claim 4 wherein said at least one cellulose ether is a hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose and has a DS(methyl) of 1.2 to 2.2.

16. The melt-extruded polymer composition of claim 1 wherein said at least one cellulose ether a) makes up about 100 percent of the total weight of the polymers in the composition.

Assignees

• Dow Global Technologies Llc

Inventors

• Grasman Nicholas S
• Rogers True L
• Petermann Oliver
• Brackhagen Meinolf
• Adden Roland

Classifications

• A61K9/2095

  Tabletting processes · CPC title

• B29C48/0022

  combined with cutting · CPC title

• B29C2793/009

  after shaping · CPC title

• B29K2001/08

  Cellulose derivatives · CPC title

• C08L1/284

  with hydroxylated hydrocarbon radicals · CPC title