GB806723A - New pharmaceutical compositions - Google Patents

Abstract

Dry solid pharmaceutical compositions comprising at least one non-toxic orally-acceptable fat at least 70 per cent of the particles of which are less than 20 microns in size in the presence of at least one non-toxic orally-acceptable emulsifying agent are prepared by freeze drying or spray drying the corresponding non-toxic orally-acceptable fat emulsions. These emulsions used as starting materials may be prepared from liquid p paraffin, coconut oil, corn oil, arachis oil, butter oil, olive oil or cod liver oil. The emulsifying agent may be gelatine, acacia, tragacanth, methyl cellulose, sodium carboxy-methylcellulose, polyvinylpyrrolidone, polyvinyl alcohol, alginates, egg lecithin, agar, sorbitol, sorbitan mono-oleate, polyoxyethylene sorbitan tri-oleate or the condensation product of ethylene oxide with 8-10 molecular proportions of octylcresol. As non-toxic orally-acceptable excipients there may be added sodium chloride, sodium citrate, potassium chloride, sodium dihydrogen phosphate, disodium hydrogen phosphate, sucrose, dextrose, dextran, casein hydrolysate, and mixtures of amino-acids or enzyme digested protein optionally with the addition of vitamins. The dry solid composition obtained by drying the fat emulsion can be reconstituted to form a nontoxic orally-acceptable emulsion in which the small size of the fat particles in the original emulsion is retained and which is stable by the addition of an aqueous non-toxic orally-acceptable medium such as water or milk. It is preferred that at least 70 per cent of the fat particles present are not greater than 3 microns in size. The preferred solid composition contains by weight 50-90 per cent fat, 3-25 per cent emulsifying agent, 8-30 per cent carbohydrate. A particularly useful composition is one containing about 55 per cent by weight of fat.