Patent ID: 6200600
Filing Date: 2001-03-13
Classification: A61K

Abstract:
A controlled release device for oral administration to a human patient, the device being effective to pass through the patient's stomach into the intestine thereby to deliver an active agent thereto, the device containing a single therapeutic dose comprising at least one active agent and a water permeable capsule coated with an enteric coating effective to prevent the ingress of liquid from the stomach into said capsule during the passage thereof through the stomach into the intestine, said capsule including a cavity suitable to receive said at least one active agent; an interior wall defining an orifice, said orifice being in communication with said cavity; a closure member that is separably engageable with said capsule to close said orifice, said orifice being in communication with said cavity; and a water sensitive material that is receivable by said cavity, wherein upon the passage of the device from the stomach into the intestine, said water sensitive material expands and causes an increasing positive pressure to be exerted on said interior wall of said capsule thereby to effect the rapid separation of said closure member from said capsule and the release of substantially all of the active agent therefrom in a single pulse.