EP2024383A2

EP2024383A2 - Crystalline forms of 11 beta-(4-acetylphenyl)-20,20,21,21,21-pentafluor-17alpha- hydroxy-19-nor-17 -pregna-4,9-dien-3-one

Info

Publication number: EP2024383A2
Application number: EP07725692A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Wolfgang Beckmann; Gabriele Winter; Edda KRÄMER; Thomas Ginko; Evelin Amoulong; Arwed Cleve
Original assignee: Bayer Schering Pharma AG
Current assignee: Bayer Pharma AG
Priority date: 2006-06-02
Filing date: 2007-05-31
Publication date: 2009-02-18
Also published as: EA200802385A1; EP1862468A1; JP2009538855A; UY30384A1; NO20085417L; BRPI0713093A2; AU2007256432A1; MX2008015348A; US20080085875A1; AR061151A1; KR20090016008A; WO2007140917A3; ECSP088934A; TNSN08499A1; US7910573B2; WO2007140917A2; CA2654126A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to crystalline forms of 11 ß-(4-acetylphenyl)-20,20,21,21,21-pentafluor-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17a-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one. In particular, the invention relates to two crystalline ansolvate/anhydrate forms of this compound, polymorphs I and II. However, the present invention also relates to crystalline solvates, for example, methanol and ethanol solvates of 11 ß-(4-acetylphenyl)- 20,20,21,21,21-pentafluor-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17a-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one, as precursors for the preparation of these two polymorphs I and II. Processes are described for the preparation of polymorph I by means of displacement crystallization or by means of extraction. The choice of the last solvent, before the ansolvate formation can take place, on the basis of the differences in the purification ratios of the individual solvates of 11 ß-(4-acetylphenyl)-20,20,21,21,21-pentafluor-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17a-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one is described. Polymorph I, according to the invention, is particularly suitable for the preparation of drugs.

Description

Crystalline forms of 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21,21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one

The present invention relates to crystalline forms of 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21,21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one. In particular, the invention relates to two crystalline ansolvate / anhydrate forms of this compound, the polymorphs I and II. However, the present invention also relates to crystalline solvates, for example methanol and ethanol solvates of 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21, 21, 21 -pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one as precursors for the preparation of these two polymorphs I and II. There are methods for preparing the polymorph I by displacement or by means of Stirring described. The selection of the last solvent before ansolvation can be determined by the differences in the purification behavior of the individual solvates of 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21,21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna -4,9-dien-3-on. The polymorph I according to the invention is particularly suitable for the preparation of medicaments.

For the processing of pharmaceutical active ingredients in oral dosage forms, these drugs usually have to be in solid form. There are a number of solid forms possible. They can be amorphous or crystalline. During crystallization, it is possible that the active ingredient is obtained as Ansolvat. It is also possible that a solvate forms by the incorporation of solvents in the crystal. A hydrate is, for example, a solvate which has been formed by incorporation of water into the crystal.

It is known that a number of physicochemical properties are determined by the particular solid state shape. Such properties of pharmaceutical relevance are, for example, the chemical stability of the active ingredient, its stability to pharmaceutical excipients, its ability to be ground and its flow behavior. It is also known that crystalline solids have a higher stability compared to amorphous solids. In the case of amorphous solids, there is the risk of recrystallization and thus the risk of uncontrolled loss of the solid form used in the pharmaceutical formulation. The advantage of amorphous solids is, inter alia, their higher solubility or their significantly increased dissolution rate (dissolubility). tion). When selecting the solid form of an active substance to be used in a specific pharmaceutical formulation, advantages and disadvantages, for example, in the rate of dissolution, stability and processability, are to be weighed against one another. A stable solid state is a prerequisite for the development of a drug, since the transformation of one solid form into another always also property changes are connected.

As crystalline solids, ansolvates and hydrates are acceptable for pharmaceutical applications. Solvents of non-aqueous solvents are - due to the high organic solvent content - with a few exceptions - unsuitable as an active ingredient.

The preparation of solid pharmaceutical active ingredients includes, among others, chemical synthesis, purification and solids recovery. For purification, preparative chromatography is increasingly being used. It is able to deplete impurities to a high degree without causing a significant loss of active ingredient. This is particularly advantageous for chemically closely related to the drug contaminants that are depleted in the classical crystallization only poorly or with high losses of active ingredient in the mother liquor. The active ingredient is relatively diluted in the raffinate of the preparative chromatography stage. From this raffinate, the active ingredient must be isolated in solid form.

11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21,21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one has the structural formula:

11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21,21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one has heretofore been known only as an amorphous foam (US Pat. EP 0970103 B1, page 9, paragraph 0056). This amorphous foam is formed by concentration to Dry the fractions containing the active ingredient after chromatography. The amorphous foams obtained in this way do not meet the requirements for a pharmaceutical active substance with respect to the content of residual solvents. In addition, the separation of the foam from the agitator is difficult. Another step on the way to the final formulation is micronization. Micronization is a fine grinding of the ground material, for example with an air jet mill. In question, however, come alternative manufacturing methods of microparticles. This is particularly necessary in low-dose pharmaceutical preparations to ensure a uniform content of active ingredient in the formulation. A prerequisite for a good grinding of a substance is, inter alia, sufficient flowability of both the starting material and the ground material. Again, the handling of the previously known form is difficult because it charges electrostatically and therefore is difficult to micronize.

The usual way to generate a manageable solid by crystallization from solutions could not be gone. 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21, 21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one forms in the crystallization from that described for Crystallization of final stages of acceptable and common solvents in which it dissolves sufficiently, solvates. These were detected after crystallization from organic solvents such as methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, acetone, 2-butanone, diisopropyl ether, dioxane or tetrahydrofuran or from the solvent mixtures isopropanol / water, ethanol / ethyl acetate, isopropanol / isopropyl acetate. However, because of their residual solvent content, these solvates do not meet the requirements of a pharmaceutical agent. The removal of the solvent from the solvates thus formed by drying again leads to an amorphous phase.

It is well known that the occurrence of new, as yet unknown solid forms of a known chemical compound is unpredictable. The existence of crystalline phases can be predicted as little as the number of polymorphic forms. Nor can the formation conditions and properties of the individual forms be predicted.

It is an object of the present invention to provide solid-state forms of 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21,21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one generate neither the disadvantages of the known amorphous form, in particular especially the low storage stability and electrostatic charge during processing, nor have the disadvantages of crystalline solvates with organic solvents.

The task was solved by finding the polymorphs I and II.

It is known that amorphous solid forms do not have a well-defined and meaningful melting point. The DSC curve (DSC = Differential Scanning Calorimetry) of the known from EP 0970103 B1 amorphous foam exhibited dependent on the selected rate of heating an exotherm between 110 ⁰ C and 200 ⁰ C, followed by an endotherm at about 218 ⁰ C (see Figure 1) , The solid state after the exothermic reaction has been analyzed by XRPD (XRPD = X-Ray Powder Diffraction). A new, completely crystalline form, which eludes identification in a classical, but also in a HTS screen (HTS = High Throughput Screen) by formation of solvates, could be found in this way. Figure 2 shows the X-ray powder diffraction pattern of the amorphous foam, which shows no defined XRPD lines. FIG. 3 shows the X-ray powder diffractogram of the polymorph I according to the invention (transmission, Cu K _e n radiation, 20-25 ^° C.). This polymorph I shows an XRPD line at d = 21, 4 Å. Other XRPD lines are 5.3 Å, 7.7 Ä and 5.8 Ä. Figure 4 shows the DSC curve of polymorph I, which melts at about 218 ° C. The infrared spectrum (single-bounce ATR IR) of polymorph I shows bands at 3416 ^{cm -1,} 1680 cm ^"1, 1628 ^{cm -1} and 1215 ^cm" ¹ (see Figure 5).

The polymorph I thus found was also able to be produced on a larger scale (kg range). The methods used here are the displacement crystallization by means of water and the stirring.

The polymorph I according to the invention has, in addition to the advantages mentioned above, a number of other properties which have a positive effect on the pharmaceutical processing. It does not charge electrostatically and can therefore be easily micronized in the air jet mill. Figure 6 shows a typical distribution curve of the ground material. A particle size distribution in which more than 50% of all particles have a diameter of less than or equal to 3 μm (for the lower distribution, measured by the volume-related particle size distribution). sitting (so-called x ₅₀ , ₃ value) can be for the amorphous material very poorly and in particular not achieve on an industrial scale, since the e- electrostatic charge and the associated poor flowability extremely difficult targeted metering in the mill.

In the micronization of polymorph I according to the invention, the proportion of residual solvent decreases further. The corresponding values can be found in Table 1. The residual solvent content of polymorph I after micronization is 0.34-0.35% below the recommended value for ethanol in the ICH Q3C guideline (CPMP / ICH / 283/95, 4.3, page 8/18) of 0, 5%. According to the X-ray powder diffraction gram, polymorph I is present before and after micronization without any proportion of ethanol solvate.

Tab. 1: Ethanol content in the polymorph I according to the invention before and after the grinding in an air jet mill (micronization)

The polymorph I has superior stability over the amorphous form. This is shown when comparing the results of the temperature, humidity and especially light load tests. Table 2 shows the decrease in the active ingredient content under storage at elevated temperature and elevated humidity. Before storage, the material used had a content of 98.4% and 95.4%, respectively.

Tab. 2: Comparison of the short-term stability of amorphous 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21,21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-diene-3 on and of polymorph I during storage at elevated temperature and elevated air humidity. Indicated is the decrease of the drug content.

The higher stability of polymorph I when stored under light is even clearer. Table 3 shows the stabilities after storage below 20 kLux for 42 hours and for 66 hours. The starting values were 98.4% and 95.4% respectively.

Table 3: Comparison of the stability of amorphous 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -

20,20,21, 21, 21 -pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one and polymorph I when stored under light. Indicated is the decrease of the active ingredient content.

When using 11ß- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21, 21, 21 -pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one as an active ingredient in pharmaceutical preparations the contaminant profile of crucial importance. One at the 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21, 21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-9,10-epoxy-19-nor-1α, 17α-pregna-1, 4-dien-3-on. The toxicity of this compound is known. The content of this contaminant must be below 0.2% until the expiry of the shelf-life of the pharmaceutical formulation. For the amorphous solid of 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21,21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one was found on storage under stress conditions (elevated temperature and humidity) and under light found a significant formation of this impurity. The amorphous solid is therefore not suitable for use in a drug without stabilization. In polymorph I, however, the increase in this critical impurity is nearly zero. A complex stabilization when using polymorph I is therefore no longer necessary. When storing amorphous 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21,21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one at one temperature of 7O ⁰ C arise already after 15 days 0.6%, after 30 days already 1, 1% of the above Epoxyverunreinigung. On the other hand, if the polymorph I is stored at the same temperature for 30 days, then just 0.1% of the epoxy contamination can be detected. Table 4 shows the increase in epoxy contamination upon storage of amorphous 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21,21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4.9 -dien-3-one under stress conditions or under light. In comparison, the polymorph I according to the invention has an increase of these impurities of less than 0.2%.

Tab. 4: Increase in epoxy contamination upon storage of amorphous 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21,21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9- dien-3-one and polymorph I when stored under light.

Partial recrystallization to polymorph I was found under stress conditions (15 d, 90 ° C / 75% relative humidity) for the amorphous active substance. It is believed that such recrystallization also occurs when the amorphous phase is stored at lower temperatures for an extended period of time. However, such a conversion is unavoidable in the finished dosage form. wishes, as this may lead to an altered, not reproducible release of the drug, but also the hardness of the dosage form may be affected.

The polymorph I according to the invention can be processed into pharmaceutical preparations which can be used for the treatment of myomas or a mammary carcinoma. It can be used as an active ingredient in female contraception, but also for the treatment of gynecological disorders, such as dysmenorrhea or endometriosis, hormone replacement therapy, menstruation and induction of labor. Because of its strong antitumor activity, it can also be used in combination with an antiestrogen (simultaneously or sequentially) in preparations for the treatment of hormone-dependent tumors (EP0310542). Also conceivable is a use in the treatment of tumors in the intestinal area, in the area of the prostate, of the ovary, of the endometrium and of meningomas.

11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21,21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one forms with those of interest in this substance Solvents solvates. For the preparation of the polymorph I according to the invention two ways are possible: First, it can be prepared by displacement by means of water, on the other hand by means of stirring.

The polymorph I according to the invention can be obtained from an organic solvent by displacement crystallization. 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21, 21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one may be used with the anti-displacement agent. Solvent do not form a solvate. It is also possible to use as primary solvents those with which 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21,21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-diene-3 - On a solvate forms, but then the proportion of primary solvent in the displacement must be reduced so far that the solvate is unstable. One possible anti-solvent is water, since 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20, 20,21,21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one does not form hydrates. The amount of water required to prevent the formation of the solvate depends both on the primary solvent and on the temperature at which the crystallization is conducted. Table 5 lists the proportions of water in ethanol required for the primary solvent ethanol as a function of temperature which are at least required for safe crystallization of polymorph I from ethanol. At room temperature temperature (20 ⁰ C) are, for example, 40% water wt- required. 40 wt% means 40 weight percent water, so per gram of solvent mixture 0.4 g of water are included.

Tab. 5: For safe displacement crystallization of polymorph I minimum required water content as a function of the temperature

The solubility of 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21, 21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one in a water-ethanol Mixture has a strong dependence on the water content. This dependency is shown in Figure 7. The solubility of 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21, 21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one is at a level of 20% by weight of water has already fallen to one-hundredth of the solubility in pure ethanol. Thus, for 11ß- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21, 21, 21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one, the displacement described makes economic sense. For other systems, the required water content is significantly higher, so that the displacement can only be very diluted and thus can be carried out with insufficient space yield.

The polymorph I according to the invention can also be obtained by stirring. It is known that when stirring in a solvent with low solvency phase conversions between different Festköperformen are possible. The conversion always leads to the more stable under the specific conditions solid. Stirring solvates may result in removal of the solvation solvent. For this, the stability domain for the solvate must be left. As described above, 40 wt% of water in ethanol is sufficient at room temperature. The solubility of 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21,21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one is in such a mixture already sufficiently low, compare Figure 7, so that the process can be performed without much subtlety loss. Whether the new phase resulting from such agitation is amorphous or crystalline, the can not be predicted oretically. According to the invention results in the described Ausrührung the polymorph I.

The residual solvent contents after stirring in water and conversion to a solvolate form are shown in Table 6 for three solvents. In all cases, pure polymorph I was present after desolvation.

Tab. 6: Residual solvent contents after stirring in water

Thus, a number of sovereigns come into question as an outlet for the formation of the Ansolvatform. The selection can be made on the basis of further target variables. It has been found that in the formation of the different solvates impurities are depleted to different levels. By choice, therefore, the purification can be improved. To compare the effectiveness of the depletion of impurities in Umsolvatisieren / recrystallization can be used both the sum of impurities and specific impurities. In Table 7, two effective solvents (methyl ethyl ketone [MEK], acetone) are contrasted with the insufficient depleting MTBE. The change is in the sum of impurities and the decrease of the largest and second largest pollution. The depletion factor covers the range 7: 1 to 2: 1. The effective depleting solvents also differ in the depletion of certain impurities, here the largest contamination. The yields are at all Ausrührungen at 85-90% by volume.

Tab. 7: Decrease in the sum of impurities, the proportion of the largest and the share of the second largest impurity in the re-solvation to a MEK, acetone and MTBE solvate. The contents of impurities in the starting material (AM) and in the three products are given

The purification by re-solvation / recrystallization can be carried out according to Example 8.

In addition to the polymorph I already mentioned above, it has been possible to produce another polymorph II (compare Example 7). To this was dissolved 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21,21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one in warm ethanol. Upon cooling the ethanolic solution, the ethanol solvate crystallized out. After thermal desolvation of the ethanol solvate, polymorph II is obtained. It can be assumed that the polymorph II is more stable than the amorphous form. However, since it is thermodynamically more unstable compared to polymorph I, it is only second choice as an active ingredient in solid drugs.

Figure 10 shows the X-ray powder of polymorph Il (Cu K _α rStrahlung, 20 - 25 ° C). Polymorph II shows a characteristic XRPD line d = 5.1 Å. Other XRPD lines are 7.1 Å and 5.6 Å. Figure 11 shows the DSC curve of polymorph II, which melts at about 135 ^° C. The melt of polymorph II recrystallizes as polymorph I, which melts at about 218 ^C C. The infrared spectrum (single-bounce ATR-IR) of Polymorph II shows bands at 3653 cm ^"1 , 1682 cm ^{" 1} '1601 cm ^"1 and 1209 cm ^{" 1} (see Figure 12).

Example 1: Recrystallization under thermal stress

Between 2 mg and 10 mg of the amorphous material were heated in a DSC at heating rates between 1 K / min and 20 K / min in an open AI capsule under nitrogen. The thermogram shows a recrystallization exotherm followed by a melting endotherm with an onset temperature of 218 ° C (see Figure 1).

Example 2: Displacement crystallization

To a solution of 12.5 kg of 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21, 21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one in 120 l of ethanol at 60 ⁰ C are added within 10 minutes 115 kg of water and codistilled at a jacket temperature of 6O ⁰ C in vacuo. The codistillation is repeated until the ethanol content in the vapor is less than 1%. It is then cooled to 20 ⁰ C and stirred for a further 30 min. After separation of the solid and drying 11.9 kg Polymorph I are obtained.

Example 3: Displacement crystallization with purification

To a solution of 7.6 kg of 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21,21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one in 33 l of ethanol are added at boiling heat within 5 minutes 58 kg of water. It is then cooled to 2 ° C and stirred for one hour. After separation of the solid and drying, 6.2 kg of polymorph I are obtained.

When displaced, the depletion of certain impurities was achieved by a factor of about 3 with a yield of 93%. Thus, 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -17β-hydroxy-17α-methylestra-4,9-dien-3-one decreases from 1.1% to 0.38%, which is below specification. This impurity is then present in the mother liquor at 63%.

Example 4: Ausrührung

15.6 kg of the ethanol solvate (X-ray powder diffractogram: compare FIG. 9, prepared analogously to Example 5) are added to 217 kg of water for one hour an internal temperature of 85 ° C stirred. It is then cooled to 25 ° C. After isolation and drying, 12.7 kg of polymorph I are obtained.

Example 5: Ausrührung

585 mg of 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21,21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one are dissolved in methanol at 64 Dissolved ⁰ C and obtained by cooling to room temperature as methanol solvate. After isolation and drying, 463 mg of methanol solvate are obtained. Figure 8 shows the X-ray powder diffractogram of the methanol solvate.

102 mg of this methanol solvate are stirred in 5 ml of water at 70 ⁰ C for 245 min. After 31 minutes, a sample is taken and dried at room temperature. The recorded X-ray powder diffractogram corresponds to the X-ray powder diffractogram of polymorph I (see Figure 3). The product contains less than 0.02% methanol.

Example 6: Micronization

10 kg of polymorph I according to the invention, with a residual solvent content of slightly above 1% ethanol (see Table 1) are ground at an air jet mill at a mass flow of 4 kg / h and at a grinding pressure of 5 bar at about 220 Nm ³ / h. The targeted metering of the ground material runs without any problems due to the lack of electrostatic charge. The product obtained has a particle size distribution (X ₅ o, ₃ value) of 3 μm. The content of residual solvent has fallen to 0.35%.

Example 7: Preparation of Polymorph II

1.2 g of 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21,21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one are obtained in 6,12 Dissolved ethanol at 70 ⁰ C and crystallized by cooling for 2 hours to -1O ⁰ C. After stirring at -10 ⁰ C overnight, the crystals are isolated at -1O ⁰ C. After drying in a circulating air dryer under Stickstoffbesch leierung at 4O ⁰ C is obtained after 16 hours 1, 09 g Polymorph II. Example 8: Purification by re-solvation / recrystallization

1000 mg of ethanol solvate are suspended in 5 mL of methyl ethyl ketone (MEK). It is stirred for 30 minutes at 90 ° C; then cooled to -15 ° C within 60 minutes and stirred at this temperature for 60 minutes. The suspension is added to a -15 ° C cold filter and filtered with suction. To increase the yield, the reaction vessel with 1 mL of methyl ethyl ketone is from - 15 ⁰ C and purged the Spülsuspension also added to the filter.

The solid is dried in a convection oven at 40 ⁰ C. 0.244 g of the MEK solvate thus prepared are suspended in 2.05 mL of water at 70 ⁰ C for 2 hours. After cooling, after isolation and drying, 0.177 g of polymorph I are obtained.

Claims

claims

1. Crystalline 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21,21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one.

2. A crystalline ansolvate of 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21,21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one according to claim 1.

A crystalline solvate of 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21,21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one as claimed in claim 1.

4. A crystalline methanol solvate of 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21,21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one according to claim 3 ,

5. A crystalline ethanol solvate of 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21,21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one according to claim 3 ,

6. A crystalline MEK solvate of 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21,21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one as claimed in claim third

7. polymorph I according to claim 2, characterized in that its X-ray powder diffractogram lines at d = 21, 4 A shows.

8. polymorph I according to claim 2, characterized in that the X-ray powder diffractogram lines at d = 21, 4 A, d = 7.7 A d = 5.8 A, and d = 5.3 A shows ,

9. polymorph I according to claim 2, characterized in that the IR spectrum bands at 3416 cm ^"1 , 1680 cm ^{" 1} , 1628 cm ^"1 and 1215 cm ^{" 1} shows.

10. Polymorph II according to claim 2, characterized in that its X-ray powder diffractogram shows lines at d = 5.1 A.

11. Polymorph II according to claim 2, characterized in that its X-ray powder diffractogram shows lines at d = 5.1 A, d = 7.1 A, and d = 5.6 A.

12. Polymorph II according to claim 2, characterized in that its IR spectrum bands at 3653 cm ^'1 , 1682 cm ^"1 , 1601 cm ^{' 1} and 1209 cm ^{" 1} shows.

13. A micronized crystalline ansolate according to any one of claims 2, 7, 8 or 9.

14. Micronised crystalline solvolate according to claim 13, characterized in that it has a residual solvent content of less than 0.5 wt%.

15. Micronized crystalline Ansolvat according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that its X ₅ o _{, 3} value (volume-related particle size-sum distribution) is less than 5 microns, preferably less than 5 microns and greater than 1 micron.

16. A pharmaceutical composition containing a crystalline 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21,21,21-pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one according to one of claims 1 to 15.

17. A pharmaceutical composition according to claim 16 for the treatment of fibroids.

18. A pharmaceutical composition according to claim 16 for the treatment of breast cancer.

The pharmaceutical composition of claim 16 containing less than 0.2% of 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21,21,21 -pentafluoro-17-hydroxy-9,10-epoxy-19-nor-1 Oa , 17a-pregna-1, 4-dien-3-one.

20. A process for the preparation of polymorph I according to claim 7, 8 or 9 by displacement crystallization from organic solvents with an antisolvent, with the 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20, 20,21, 21, 21 -pentafluoro-17-hydroxy 19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one does not form a solvate.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the organic solvent is ethanol and the antisolvent is water.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the water content is above 50 wt% and the temperature is below 50 ⁰ C.

23. A process for the preparation of polymorph I according to claim 7, 8 or 9 by stirring an organic solvate in a solvent with the 11β- (4-acetylphenyl) -20,20,21,21,21 -pentafluoro-17-hydroxy- 19-nor-17α-pregna-4,9-dien-3-one does not form a solvate.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the solvate is the ethanol solvate and the solvent is water.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the stirring is carried out at a temperature of 50 - 100 ⁰ C.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the stirring is carried out at a temperature of about 80-90 ⁰ C.

27. The method of claim 23, wherein the solvate is selected so that in its production, the depletion of impurities is high.