Medical and laboratory equipment – Pharmaceutical product – Tablet or caplet
Patent
1999-05-26
2000-12-19
Page, Thurman K.
Medical and laboratory equipment
Pharmaceutical product
Tablet or caplet
D24103, 424464, 424465, A61K 920
Patent
active
06161260&
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to pharmaceutical tablets of the type which may be broken into two or more parts to ease swallowing or to allow administration of a part dose.
Pharmaceutical tablets are often made having a break line, usually a groove, aligned perpendicular to major dimension of the shape, e.g. the length or width, so that the tablet can be easily broken in-two by a folding snapping action. A problem with such tablets is that some patients can find them difficult to break, particularly if they have weak or deformed hands, such as arthritis sufferers. Typically if a small tablet of this type is broken by a folding action the user's thumbs and/or fingers are forced uncomfortably together as the tablet folds.
Various tablet shapes are known which have features which are alleged to improve the ability of a user to break the tablet into two or more parts. For example U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,027 discloses tablets provided with at least two break lines. EP 0658104 A discloses an elongated tablet with bulges at each end and a break line across the longitudinal middle, which are alleged to be easily broken by pressing onto a surface. EP 0531964 A also discloses tablets in the form of two lobes with a break line diametrically across the long dimension of the tablet between the lobes. U.S. Pat. No. 4,824,677 discloses an elongate tablet with a mid-longitudinal break line. Design registrations and design patents also disclose twin lobed tablets with a mid-longitudinal break line, e.g. U.S. Pat. No. Des. 228,456, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 229,275, and ZA Des 92/634.
It is an object of this invention to provide a novel tablet construction in which this problem is at least partly alleviated.
According to this invention, a pharmaceutical tablet has a break line aligned across a long dimension of the tablet such that a twisting action, in which parts of the tablets on opposite sides of the break line are subjected to rotational twisting force in respectively opposite senses, causes the tablet to break along a line substantially following the break line, into two or more parts.
The provision by the invention of a tablet which is broken by a twisting rather than a folding action solves the above-mentioned problem in that the use of a twisting action to apply the above-mentioned twisting force does not cause the thumbs and/or fingers of the user to come together during the breaking of the tablet.
In one embodiment of the invention, the tablet is of a shape flattened about a plane, having a length and width dimension in the plane into which the tablet is flattened, and with a thickness dimension perpendicular to this plane and less than either the length or width, the length and width thereby being both "long dimensions" relative to the shorter thickness dimension, and the break line may follow a generally straight line or a curve, such as a gentle "S", "Z" or sinusoidal curve, across the length or width of the tablet, preferably across the width.
The tablet of the invention has upper and lower surfaces distanced by a thickness dimension, and side surfaces between the said upper and lower surfaces.
The length and width may be substantially the same, such that the tablet is of generally circular, square or polygonal (optionally with rounded ends or corners) shape in plan.
In another, preferred, aspect of this invention, a pharmaceutical tablet has an elongated shape flattened about a plane, having a major ("length") dimension and a minor ("width") dimension in the plane into which the tablet is flattened, and a thickness dimension perpendicular to this plane and less than either the length or width, and the tablet has a break line across the major dimension and aligned diagonally, i.e. at an angle other than 90.degree., relative to the major dimension.
In such a tablet a twisting action, in which parts of the tablets on longitudinally opposite sides of the break line are subjected to rotational force in respectively opposite senses about the major dimension as rotation axis, causes the tablet to break, along a line substantially fo
REFERENCES:
patent: D228456 (1973-09-01), Ninger
patent: D316616 (1991-04-01), Leslie et al.
patent: D398395 (1998-09-01), Titley et al.
patent: 3336200 (1967-08-01), Krause et al.
patent: 4258027 (1981-03-01), Ullman et al.
patent: 4824677 (1989-04-01), Shah et al.
Page Thurman K.
Pulliam Amy E.
Stein-Fernandez Nora
Venetianer Stephen
Williams Janice E.
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