Patent ID: 6660853
Filing Date: 2003-12-09
Classification: C08B

Abstract:
A method for purifying high molecular weight hyaluronic acid, comprising the steps of:providing one or more raw hyaluronic acid sources; extracting said hyaluronic acid from said sources; precipitating said hyaluronic acid extracts; dissolving extract precipitates in water; extracting enzyme inhibitors from said dissolved precipitates with chloroform, and centrifuging to isolate an aqueous portion; adding one or more protein hydrolyzing enzymes to said aqueous portion in a reactor; adding to the reactor a solution of about 2% cetyl pyridinium chloride (CPC) and about 0.3M NaCl to precipitate non-hyaluronic acid glycosoamino glycans; filtering reactor contents through at least one membrane filter to remove precipitants; filtering membrane filtered solution through at least one diafilter having a molecular weight cutoff of about 30 kDa to remove low molecular weight contaminants; and precipitating diafiltered solution and isolating purified hyaluronic acid precipitate.