Drug – bio-affecting and body treating compositions – Preparations characterized by special physical form – Tablets – lozenges – or pills
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-02
2002-01-29
Page, Thurman K. (Department: 1615)
Drug, bio-affecting and body treating compositions
Preparations characterized by special physical form
Tablets, lozenges, or pills
C424S464000, C206S532000, C206S539000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06342248
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dividable tablet and to a press-through pack and, more specifically, to a dividable tablet which can be divided easily and accurately without being chipped and has excellent impact resistance and such a shape that does not cause the twining of the tablets in the film-coating step and to a press-through pack for containing the same which enables the dividable tablets contained therein to be divided into two easily and simply while they are contained in the press-through pack and all the divided tablets to be taken out at a time.
2. Description of the Related Art
A dividable tablet is divided by a pharmacist at the time of preparation according to dosage or by a patient himself when he takes it and has been developed to optimize the management of dosage for each individual patient and improve prescription ease.
A dividing line (dividing groove) is generally formed in this dividable tablet to divide the tablet.
FIGS. 13A
,
13
B and
13
C are schematic diagrams of a flat dividable tablet of the prior art.
FIG. 13A
is a plan view,
FIG. 13B
is a bottom view and
FIG. 13C
is a side view.
This flat dividable tablet Te has a flat upper surface Sa and a flat lower surface Sb and a dividing line Ld is formed on the upper surface SA along a center line thereof.
To divide the dividable tablet Te into two, two areas R
1
and R
2
defined by the dividing line Ld on the upper surface Sa are held with the fingers of a pharmacist, patient or the like directly and the dividable tablet Te is divided along the dividing line Ld by spreading wide the dividing line Ld.
However, the dividable tablet Te shown in
FIGS. 13A
to
13
C has such a problem that great force is needed to divide it into two so that it is difficult for a person of advanced age who suffers from a reduction in the strength of his fingers and a reduction in sensibility to divide the dividable tablet Te.
FIGS. 14A
to
14
C are schematic diagrams of a KARATE SHAPE dividable tablet of the prior art disclosed by Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Sho 61-289027.
FIG. 14A
is a plan view,
FIG. 14B
is a bottom view and
FIG. 14C
is a side view.
The KARATE shape tablet Tf has a flat lower surface Sb. A dividing line Ld is formed on an upper surface Sa along a center line thereof and two areas R
1
and R
2
defined by the dividing line Ld on the upper surface Sa have an inclined plane surface which ascends from lines Ld
2
and Ld
2
which are the borders of the dividing line Ld toward the periphery of the tablet so that the thickness of the tablet increases toward the periphery of the tablet.
To divide the dividable tablet Tf into two, a pharmacist, patient or the like holds the two areas R
1
and R
2
with fingers directly and divides it into two along the dividing line Ld. Alternatively, the dividable tablet Tf can be divided into two by placing the tablet upside down and pressing it down from above.
A tablet may contain a component having unpleasant smell or taste or a component which has poor stability against light or the like as an effective ingredient. A tablet containing such an effective ingredient is generally coated with a film to mask the unpleasant smell or taste of the effective ingredient or ensure stability against light or the like.
However, as the dividable tablet Te of the prior art has a flat upper surface Sa and a flat lower surface Sb, the tablets Te are easily face contacted to each other. As a result, in the step of coating a film on the surface of the tablet Te, there easily occurs such a phenomenon (so called twining) that the tablets Te are adhered to each other.
Similarly, as the two areas R
1
and R
2
defined by the dividing line Ld on the upper surface Sa of the dividable tablet Tf of the prior art are formed by a plane surface and the lower surface Sb also is formed by a plane surface, the tablets Tf are easily face contacted to each other. Therefore, when the surface of the tablet Tf is coated with a film, the phenomenon (so called twining) that the tablets Tf are adhered to each other easy occurs in the film-coating step.
When the dividable tablets Te and Tf of the prior art are coated with a film, the strength of each of the tablets increases by film coating, whereby greater force is needed to divide the tablets or division readily becomes non-uniform.
A dividable tablet that is free from twining in the film-coating step when the tablet is coated with a film and is easily divided into two is already proposed by Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 8-53345.
FIGS. 15A
to
15
C are schematic diagrams of an example of a dividable tablet disclosed by Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 8-53345.
FIG. 15A
is a plan view,
FIG. 15B
is a bottom view and
FIG. 15C
is a side view.
A dividing line Ld is formed in this dividable tablet Tg on an upper surface Sa along a center line thereof, two areas R
1
and R
2
defined by the dividing line Ld on the upper surface Sa have an inclined plane surface from lines Ld
2
and Ld
2
which are the borders of the dividing line Ld toward the periphery of the tablet so that the thickness of the tablet increases toward the periphery of the tablet, and the lower surface Sb of the tablet Tg has such convexity that a center portion C is higher than a peripheral portion E.
Since the lower surface Sb of this dividable tablet Tg has such convexity that the center portion C is higher than the peripheral portion E, the tablets Tg are point contacted to each other rather than face contacted to each other in many cases. Therefore, twining hardly occurs in the film-coating step.
To divide the tablet Tg into two, a pharmacist, a patient or the like holds the two areas R
1
and R
2
directly with his fingers and divides it into two along the dividing line Ld. Alternatively, the tablet Tg can be divided into two by pressing it down from above.
FIGS. 16A
to
16
C are schematic diagrams of another example of a dividable tablet disclosed by Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 8-53345.
FIG. 16A
is a plan view,
FIG. 16B
is a bottom view and
FIG. 16C
is a side view.
A dividing line Ld is formed in this dividable tablet (upper KARATE shape and lower standard concave tablet) Th on an upper surface Sa along a center line thereof, two areas R
1
and R
2
defined by the dividing line Ld on the upper surface Sa have such concavity that the thickness thereof increases from lines Ld
2
and Ld
2
which are the borders of the dividing line Ld toward the periphery E of the tablet Th, and the lower surface Sb of the tablet Th has such convexity that a center portion C is higher than a peripheral portion E.
Since the lower surface Sb of this dividable tablet Th has such convexity that the center portion C is higher than the peripheral portion E like the dividable tablet Tg, the tablets Th are point contacted to each other rather than face contacted to each other.
Further, as the two areas R
1
and R
2
defined by the dividing line Ld on the upper side have convexity to eliminate a flat portion from the surfaces of the tablet Th, twining more hardly occurs in this dividable tablet Th than the dividable tablet Tg during the film-coating step.
To divide the tablet Th into two, a pharmacist, patient or the like holds the two areas R
1
and R
2
directly with his fingers and divides it into two along the dividing line Ld. Alternatively, the tablet Th can be divided into two by pressing it down from above.
The tablet is generally contained in a press-through pack (generally called “PTP”) to protect it from moisture, dust, mold, bacteria and the like while it is preserved.
FIG. 17
is a sectional view showing a typical example of the press-through pack.
This press-through pack
101
comprises a storage body
102
and a sealing sheet
103
.
The storage body
102
is made from a synthetic resin such as polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene or cyclic polyolefin and has a plurality of storage recessed portions
102
b,
. . . ,
102
b
which are formed according to the shape of the
Hayakawa Eiji
Ito Kunio
Iwase Yuji
Miura Shigemitsu
Miyabe Junichi
Di Nola-Baron Liliana
Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co. Ltd.
Page Thurman K.
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