COMPOSITION CONTAINING UBIDECARENONE WITH PROMOTED ABSORPTION

Abstract: A composition containing ubidecarenone comprising as requisite components, a glycerol mono-fatty acid ester and/or a propylene glycol mono-fatty acid ester, and a liquid oil. An oral administration of the composition provides a promoted absorp­ tion of ubidecarenone which is used for improving a coronary function.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a composition containing ubidecarenone whose absorption is promoted. Description of the Invention Ubidecarenone is broadly utilized clinically as a medicine effective in the improvement of a coronary function. However, it is well known that unbidecarenone is poor in absorption after oral administration because it is difficult to be solubilized in water. For the purpose of improving the solubility of ubidecarenone, various inventions have been proposed and include Japanese Patent Application Laid-open KOKAD Nos.18914/81; 12309/81; 148718/84; 148735/84 and 51214/84 (Application No. 161433/82), for example. EP-A-0 023 349 discloses an improved absorption by the lymphatic tract of compositions comprising ubidecarone and a higher fatty acid or a monoglyceride of a higher fatty acid, or a mixture thereof. However, it is still required to further improve the solubility of ubidecarenone. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present inventors have made various studies and have consequently discovered that a composition comprising ubidecarenone, a monoester of glycerol and a fatty acid (hereinafter referred to "a glycerol mono-fatty acid ester") and/or a monoester of propylene glycol and a fatty acid (hereinafter referred to "a propylene glycol mono-fatty acid ester"), and a liquid oil brings about an excellent promotion in absorption. The present invention has been thus accomplished. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a composition containing ubidecarenone wherein the absorption of ubidecarenone is promoted in oral administration. According to the present invention, the above object is achieved by providing a composition containing ubidecarenone according to claim 1, which comprises, as requisite components, a glycerol mono-fatty acid ester and/or a propylene glycol mono-fatty acid ester, and a liquid oil. Preferred embodiments thereof are subject matter of claims 2 to 8. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: Fig.1 is a graph illustrating a variation in ubidecarenone contents appearing in the lymph with the passage of time; and Fig.2 is a graph illustrating the total contents appearing in the lymph for every sample in the tests. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In a composition according to the present invention, a glycerol mono-fatty acid ester and/or a propylene glycol mono-fatty acid ester are/is requisite component(s). Such a glycerol mono-fatty acid ester includes those available, specifically such as MGO (under the trade name and from Nikko Chemicals, Co. in Japan), and glycerol mono-oleic acid ester is most preferred. As the other component, a propylene glycol mono-fatty acid ester includes those available, specifically such as PMO (under the trade name and from Nikko Chemicals, Co. in Japan), and propylene glycol mono-oleic acid ester is most preferred. It is to be understood that the glycerol mono-fatty acid ester and the propylene glycol mono-fatty acid ester are usually employed alone, respectively, but may be, of course, employed in combination of both of them. The employment of them in combination is included in the scope of the present invention. A liquid oil is also another requisite component in a composition according to the present invention. The liquid oils includes vegetable and synthetic oils. Illustrative of such preferred vegetable oils are cotton seed oil, peanut oil, sesame oil, and olive oil. Illustrative of such preferred synthetic oils are synthetic esters of glycerol and fatty acids including diesters of propylene glycol and fatty acids such as caproic, caprylic, capric and lauric acids, or ODO® (triglycerides of medium chain fatty acids, e.g. octyl-decyl-triglyceride). A glycerol mono-fatty acid ester and/or a propylene glycol mono-fatty acid ester and a liquid oil may be combined with ubidecarenone in any proportions. Particularly desirable effects are obtained, when the glycerol mono-fatty acid ester and/or the propylene glycol mono-fatty acid ester are/is in an amount of 0.1 to 25 parts by weight, preferably 0.2 to 2.5 parts by weight, while the liquid oil is in an amount of 1 to 30 parts by weight, respectively, per 1 part by weight of ubidecarenone. Other additives may be optionally selected and added into the composition according to the present invention, and include stabilizers for a suspension such as silicic anhydride, aluminum stearate and magnesium stearate, and excipients for shaping the composition, The composition according to the present invention is basically in the form of a solution or suspension in an oil. However, the composition according to the present invention may be used in the other form of a powder obtained by adsorbing such an oily liquid in another powder and forming the resulting material into a powder, or a granule, tablet, syrup or sugar-coated pill, hard capsule which are produced from the further treatment of such a powder. In addition, a hard capsule resulting from the direct encapsulation of the above oily liquid is similarly a form for the composition of the present invention. Accordingly, the composition of the present invention means those in the basic form of a liquid in an oil and a series of pharmaceutic compositions in the forms produced from such liquid in an oil. The composition of the present invention may be prepared in a normal manner depending on the intended pharmaceutic form. For example, a composition in the form of a liquid in an oil may be prepared by blending a glycerol mono-fatty acid ester and/or a propylene glycol mono-fatty acid ester with a liquid oil, and then adding ubidecarenone thereto and vigorously stirring them in an emulsifier to form an oily liquid. A composition in the form of a powder may be prepared by covering the thus-obtained oily liquid to form a suitable powder. A composition in another form e.g. a syrup, may be prepared by properly treating the above oily liquid used as a starting material. The present invention will be more particularly described by way of examples given below EXAMPLE 1 Five grams of ubidecarenone was added to the mixture of 10g of glycerol/oleic monoester and 15g of propylene glycol/caprylic diester, and the resulting mixture was vigorously stirred using an emulsifier under an ice-cooled condition to provide a suspension. EXAMPLE 2 Five grams of ubidecarenone was added to the mixture of 4g of glycerol/oleic monoester and 15g of propylene glycol/caprylic diester, and the resulting mixture was vigorously stirred using an emulsifier to provide a suspension. EXAMPLE 3 Five grams of ubidecarenone was added to the mixture of 7g of glycerol/oleic monoester and 15g of propylene glycol/caprylic diester, and the resulting mixture was vigorously stirred using an emulsifier under an ice-cooled condition to provide a suspension. EXAMPLE 4 Five grams of ubidecarenone was added to the mixture of 3g of glycerol/oleic monoester and 17g of peanut oil, and the resulting mixture was vigorously stirred using an emulsifier to provide a suspension. EXAMPLE 5 Five grams of ubidecarenone and 0.3g of silicic anhydride were added to the mixture of 1g of glycerol/oleic monoester and 21g of propylene glycol/caprylic diester, and the resulting mixture was vigorously stirred using an emulsifier under an ice-cooled condition to provide a suspension. EXAMPLE 6 Five grams of ubidecarenone was added to the mixture of 7g of propylene glycol/oleic monoester and 15g of caprylic acid/propylene glycol diester, and the resulting mixture was vigorously stirred using an emulsifier under an ice-cooled condition to provide a suspension. EXAMPLE 7 Five grams of ubidecarenone and 1g of silicic anhydride were added to the mixture of 4g of propylene glycol/oleic monoester and 11g of caprylic acid/propylene glycol diester, and the resulting mixture was vigorously stirred using an emulsifer to provide a suspension. EXAMPLE 8 Five grams of ubidecarenone was added to the mixture of 15g of propylene glycol/oleic monoester and 5g of sesame oil, and the resulting mixture was vigorously stirred using an emulsifier to provide a suspension. EXAMPLE 9 Five grams of ubidecarenone was added to the mixture of 0.5g of glycerol/oleic monoester and 30g of ODO, and the resulting mixture was vigorously stirred using an emulsifier to provide a suspension. EXAMPLE 10 One gram of ubidecarenone was added to the mixture of 25g of propylene glycol/oleic monoester and 5g of caprylic acid/propylene glycol diester, and the resulting mixture was vigorously stirred using an emulsifier to provide a suspension. EXAMPLE 11 One gram of ubidecarenone was added to the mixture of 2g of glycerol/oleic monoester and 30g of cotton seed oil, and the resulting mixture was vigorously stirred using an emulsifier under ice-cooled conditions to provide a suspension. EXAMPLE 12 265 grams of ubidecarenone and 132.5g of silicic anhydride were added to the mixture of 371g of glycerol/oleic mono-ester and 795g of caprylic acid/propylene glycol diester, and the resulting mixture was vigorously stirred using an emulsifier to provide a suspension. This suspension was encapsulated using a soft encapsulator to give an elliptic soft capsule having a content weight of 270 mg and a gross weight of 560 mg. EXAMPLE 13 The Example 1 was repeated to provide a suspension, except that 10g of glycerol/oleic monoester were replaced by 5g of glycerol/oleic monoester and 5g of propylene glycol/oleic monoester. Description will be made of the effect of the present invention in Experimental examples. EXPERIMENTAL EXAMPLES: SAMPLES The suspensions prepared in the above EXAMPLES 1 to 7 were used as subject samples 1 to 7, respectively. In addition, a solution obtained by dissolving 1g of ubidecarenone in 19g of propylene glycol/caprylic diester was provided as a control sample A, and a suspension prepared by suspending 1g of ubidecarenone in 4g of glycerol/oleic monoester was as a control sample B. PROCEDURE Male SD-type rats fasted for 16 hours were subjected to a lymph collecting operation by an improved technique of Bollman method (J.L. Bollman et. al., J.Lab. Clin. Med., 33 1349 (1966)). After the operation, the rats were allowed to eat freely and the lymph flooding conditions of them were observed for 2 days. Only the rats having a good lymph flooding condition were used. Each sample in an amount corresponding to a ubidecarenone content of 1 mg was encapsulated into a small-sized capsule for animals and administered using an oral sound, following which 1 ml of water was immediately supplied to the rats. The rats were starved for 12 hours after the administration. For each sample, 7 to 10 rats were used. The lymph was collected every two hours for 12 hours and then for every three hours, and the ubidecarenone content in the lymph was determined by means of a high speed liquid chromatography (Abe, et. al., Vitamins 53 385 (1979)). RESULTS The results are given in Figs.1 and 2. Fig.1 is a graph illustrating the variation in the ubidecarenone contents appearing in the lymph of the rats with the passage of time when the subject sample 1 or control sample A was administered. In Fig.1, the mark ○ designates the result for the subject sample 1, and the mark  denotes the result for the control sample A. Fig.2 is a graph illustrating the total contents of ubidecarenone appearing in the lymph of the rats up to the lapse of 10 hours after the administration when the control samples A and B and the subject samples 1 to 7 were administered, respectively. In Fig.2, the total ubidecarenone contents in the lymph of rats of the test groups (samples 1 to 7) are depicted in relation to that of control sample A, which is taken as "index number" 100. The characters A and B and the numerals 1, 2 --- in Fig.2 designate each sample, respectively. It becomes apparent from Figs.1 and 2 that the composition of the present invention has an absorption of ubidecarenone considerably promoted in oral administration.

Claims: Claims for the following Contracting States : BE, CH, DE, FR, GB, IT, LI, NL, SE A composition containing ubidecarenone comprising, as requisite components, a glycerol mono-fatty acid ester and/or a propylene glycol mono-fatty acid ester, and a liquid oil. A composition containing ubidecarenone as claimed in claim 1, wherein the fatty acid is oleic acid. A composition containing ubidecarenone as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the liquid oil is a vegetable oil. A composition containing ubidecarenone as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the liquid oil is a synthetic oil. A composition containing ubidecarenone as claimed in claim 4, wherein the synthetic oil is a propylene glycol di-fatty acid ester. A composition containing ubidecarenone as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the glycerol mono-fatty acid ester and/or the propylene glycol mono-fatty acid ester are/is in an amount of 0.1 to 25 parts by weight, and the liquid oil is in an amount of 1 to 30 parts by weight, per 1 part of ubidecarenone. A composition containing ubidecarenone as claimed in any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the composition is in the form of an oily solution or an oily suspension. A composition containing ubidecarenone as claimed in any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the composition is in the form selected from a powder, a tablet, a syrup, a hard capsule or a granule. Claims for the following Contracting State : AT A process for the preparation of a composition containing ubidecarenone comprising the mixing of ubidecarenone with a glycerol mono-fatty acid ester and/or a propylene glycol mono-fatty acid ester and a liquid oil as requisite components. The process according to claim 1, wherein oleic acid is used as fatty acid. The process according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a vegetable oil is used as liquid oil. The process according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a synthetic oil is used as the liquid oil. The process according to claim 4, wherein as the synthetic oil a propylene glycol di-fatty acid ester is used. The process according to claims 1 to 2, wherein the glycerol mono-fatty acid ester and/or the propylene glycol mono-fatty acid ester are/is used in an amount of 0.1 to 25 parts by weight, and the liquid oil is in an amount of 1 to 30 parts by weight, per 1 part of ubidecarenone. The process according to claims 1 to 6, wherein the composition is in the form of an oily solution or an oily suspension. The process according to claims 1 to 6, wherein the composition is in the form selected from a powder, a tablet, a syrup, a hard capsule or a granule.

Inventors: KAWAHARA, MASAHIRO, MIYAKA, YASUO, OHWAKI, TAKAYUKI, SAEKI, YASUHARA, WATANABE, TAKESHI
Applicants: EISAI CO., LTD.
Application year: 1986
Main classification: A61K31
IPC codes: A61K47, A61K31, A61K9