PHENOTHRIN SHAMPOO

Abstract: A lousicidal shampoo containing phenothrin as lousicidal agent together with a shampoo base comprising water and one or more surface active agents, said shampoo containing as antimicrobial preservative 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1-3-diol either alone or in combination with 2,4-dichlorobenzyl alcohol.

Description: This invention is concerned with improvements in and relating to lousicidal compositions, that is compositions for topical application to the scalp and hair to kill arthropod parasites such as lice and/or their ova. In particular the invention relates to shampoo compositions containing phenothrin as lousicidal agent. An ideal lousicidal composition would meet at least the following requirements, namely (i) it would be convenient and easy to use; (ii) it would be capable of "one-shot" use, that is one application of the composition should be capable of dealing with a case of louse infestation; and (iii) the composition should be stable and have an acceptable shelf-life. We have now found, in accordance with the present invention, that a shampoo composition containing phenothrin as lousicide agent has useful properties in that it is susceptible of "one-shot" application and, due to its inherent properties, is easily and readily applied to the hair and scalp. Thus the invention provides in a first aspect a lousicidal composition which is a shampoo containing phenothrin as lousicidal agent, together with a shampoo base comprising water and one or more surface active agents, said shampoo containing as antimicrobial preservative 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1-3-diol either alone or in combination with 2,4-dichlorobenzyl alcohol. In a further aspect, the invention provides a method for controlling lice or their ova comprising administration of a lousicidal shampoo comprising a lousicidally effective amount of phenothrin and an antimicrobial preservative comprising 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1-3-diol either alone or in combination with 2,4-dichlorobenzyl alcohol together with a shampoo base comprising water and one or more surface active agents. The amount of phenothrin in a shampoo in accordance with the invention must be sufficient to control lice or their ova and is suitably from 0.05 to 10% by weight, preferably 0.1 to 1% by weight, especially about 0.2% by weight of the shampoo. The shampoo base generally comprises water and a mixture of surfactants, the water suitably forming from 5 to 90% by weight of the base, preferably 20 to 60% by weight thereof, especially about 40% by weight, with the balance comprising the surfactant component together with a minor amount, e.g. up to about 20% by weight in total, of ingredients such as preservatives, pH adjusters, buffering agents, dyes, foam boosters, viscosity adjusting agents, foam stabilisers, antioxidants chelating agents, conditioning agents, colouring agents, perfumes etc. The surface active component will typically comprise one or more pharmaceutically acceptable anionic surface active agents (especially alkali metal alkyl ether sulphates such as sodium lauryl ether sulphate), generally forming at least 10% by weight of the surface active component, together with one or more non-ionic surface active agents e.g. polyethyleneglycol, polyethoxylated alkyl phenols, polyethoxylated alcohols and long chain fatty acid mono- and di-alkanolamides. In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, the non-ionic surface active component is such, and is present in the shampoo base in sufficient quantity as to, dissolve the phenothrin in the base, thereby increasing its effectiveness. To this end, the shampoo in accordance with the invention suitably contains relatively large amounts of non-ionic surfactants, e.g. 10 to 50% by weight, based on the total weight of the shampoo. As noted above, the shampoo of the invention will also generally contain other ingredients in minor amounts, for example pH adjusters, buffering agents, colouring agents, and perfumes provided that they are pharmaceutically acceptable, compatible with the lousicide and soluble in water. The nature and amount of such other ingredients will be such as are commonly used in shampoos or so-called "medicated" shampoos. We have found that, in order to meet the specification prescribed in the British Pharmacopoeia 1988 "Efficacy of antimicrobial preservatives in pharmaceutical products", many conventional preservatives in conventional amounts, do not afford adequate antimicrobial protection. We have, however found, that the preservative (trade name bronopol) 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol, especially when used in conjunction with the preservative 2,4-dichlorobenzyl alcohol (trade name myacide) affords good antimicrobial protection. Surprisingly, there appears to be inter dependence between the preservative component and the phenothrin, since the same shampoo composition, in which phenothrin is replaced by another lousicide, carbaryl, does not show adequate antimicrobial properties. When bronopol is used as preservative alone it is suitably present in the shampoo in an amount of 0.05 to 0.2% by weight; when a combination of bronopol and myacide SP are employed together as preservatives they are suitably used in amount of 0.01 to 0.2 and 0.05 to 0.5% by weight, respectively. Where bronopol is present as preservative, the composition according to the invention desirably contains an antioxidant such as butylated hydroxytoluene, butylated hydroxyanisole or ascorbic acid to prevent degradation of the preservative with butylated hydroxytoluene being preferred. The composition according to the present invention may be used to control lice or their ova by applying the composition to the site of infestation. Alternatively, the composition may be used prophylactically to prevent infestation. In a further aspect the invention provides a process for preparing a lousicidal shampoo containing phenothrin as lousicide agent and bronopol either alone or in combination with myacide as preservative which comprises dissolving a lousicidally effective amount of phenothrin, bronopol and optionally myacide and one or more surface active agents in water. In order that the invention may be well understood the following example are given by way of illustration only. Example 1 A shampoo having the following formulation was prepared; Purified water equivalent to approximately 50% of the batch weight was placed in a mixer and heated to approximately 80°C. Coconut diethanolamide, sodium lauryl ether sulphate 70%, ethoxylated lanolin 50%, polyethylene glycol 400, nonoxynol-9 and butylated hydroxytoluene were added and mixed to obtain a uniform dispersion. The remaining minor ingredients were added as required and mixed. The solution was cooled to 60°C and phenothrin and myacide added with mixing. The solution was further cooled to 30°C and a solution of bronopol in purified water added. Further purified water was added to achieve the final batch weight of 500kg and the whole was again mixed until uniform. Microbiological test The test procedure conformed with the specifications described in the 1988 British Pharmacopoeia - "Efficacy of Antimicrobial Preservatives in Pharmaceutical Products" 1. Inoculation of product Aliquots of microbial suspensions of Pseudomonas aeruginosa NC1B 8626, Staphylococcus aureus NCTC 10788, Candida albicans NCPF 3179, and Aspergillus niger IMI 149007 were introduced into separate containers of Example 1 to achieve a final concentration of approximately 1 x 10⁶ cfu/ml. The same volume of inoculum was simultaneously introduced into separate equivalent quantities of 0.1% peptone water to be used as controls. The inoculated product was stored in the dark at 20-25°C. 2. Recovery of micro-organisms 1ml aliquots of the inoculated product were removed at 0,6, 24 and 48 hours, 7, 14 and 28 days. Each was added to 9ml of 0.1% peptone water containing the following as preservative inactivating agents: Polysorbate 80 1.0% Lecithin 0.5% Cirrasol 1.0% Sodium thiosulphate 1.0% The control preparations were similarly sampled at 0 hours to determine the viable counts of the cultures used and to confirm the suitability of the media used for their growth. Further dilutions were made as necessary in 0.1% peptone water and 1ml aliquots of all dilutions were incorporated in pour plates of the appropriate cooled molten agar containing 0.1% Cysteine hydrochloride. The pour plates were incubated at 30°C for three days for the bacteria and at 23°C for five days for the yeasts and mould. After incubation the number of colonies on each plate were counted and, taking the dilution factor into account, the number of cfu/ml of product calculated. These figures are listed in the tables. 3. Validation of Recovery Counts The suspensions of the test organisms were further diluted with 0.1% peptone water to approximately 10²cfu/ml. Three petri dishes were used for each organism and 0.1ml of the relevant suspension added to each plate. To the first set of plates 1ml of product diluted 10 fold in recovery medium was added, to the second set 1ml of product diluted 100 fold was added and the third set acted as a control having no product in them. The appropriate cooled molen agar was then added to the plates which were incubated as described above. The plates were then examined for growth and the number of colonies present recorded on the raw data sheet. RESULTS Control count at 0 hour Validation of Recovery Counts No inhibition was noted on any of the validation plates. Counts of <5 cfu/ml are therefore valid. Recovery Counts from Example 1 Phenothrin Shampoo (0.1% Bronopol + 0.1% Myacide) A topical preparation is considered to be effectively preserved if the following criteria are met; Bacteria - the number of organisms recovered per ml is reduced by a factor of not less than 10³ within 48 hours of challenge and no organism is recovered from 1ml at 7 days and thereafter; Moulds and Yeasts - the number of organisms recovered per ml is reduced by a factor of not less than 10² within 14 days of challenge and there is no increase thereafter. From the results below it can be seen that the shampoo of Example 1 meets these requirements.

Claims: Claims for the following Contracting States : AT, BE, CH, DE, DK, FR, GB, IT, LI, LU, NL, SE A lousicidal shampoo comprising phenothrin and a shampoo base comprising water and one or more surface active agents, said shampoo containing as antimicrobial preservative 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol either alone or in combination with 2,4-dichlorobenzyl alcohol. A shampoo according to Claim 1 containing from 0.05% to 10% by weight phenothrin. A shampoo according to Claim 1 or 2 wherein the preservative comprises from 0.05% to 0.2% by weight 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol. A shampoo according to Claim 1 or 2 wherein the preservative comprises from 0.01 % to 0.2% by weight 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol and from 0.05% to 0.5% by weight 2,4-dichlorobenzyl alcohol. A shampoo according to any of Claims 1 to 4 additionally containing an antioxidant. A shampoo according to Claim 5 wherein the antioxidant is butylated hydroxytoluene. A shampoo according to any of Claims 1 to 6 in which the surfactant component of the shampoo comprises a mixture of one or more anionic surface active agents and one or more non-ionic surface active agents. A process for preparing a shampoo according to Claim 1 which comprises dissolving phenothrin, 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol and optionally 2,4-dichlorobenzyl alcohol together with one or more surface active agents in water. Claims for the following Contracting States : ES, GR A process for preparing a shampoo which comprises dissolving phenothrin, 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol and optionally 2,4-dichlorobenzyl alcohol together with one or more surface active agents in water. A process according to Claim 1 wherein the shampoo contains from 0.05% to 10% by weight phenothrin. A process according to Claim 1 or 2 wherein the preservative comprises from 0.05% to 0.2% by weight 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol. A process according to Claim 1 or 2 wherein the preservative comprises from 0.01% to 0.2% by weight 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol and from 0.05% to 0.5% by weight 2,4-dichlorobenzyl alcohol. A process according to any of Claim 1 to 4 wherein an antioxidant is added to the solution. A process according to Claim 5 wherein the antioxidant is butylated hydroxytoluene. A process according to any of Claim 1 to 6 wherein the surfactant component of the shampoo comprises a mixture of one or more anionic surface active agents and one or more non-ionic surface active agents.

Inventors: BUXTON, IAN RICHARD, LESLIE, STEWART THOMAS, MALKOWSKA, SANDRA THERESE ANTOINETTE, MILLER, RONALD BROWN, PRATER, DEREK ALLAN, SINGH, DEBORAH LYN
Applicants: EUROCELTIQUE SA
Application year: 1991
Main classification: A61K7
IPC codes: A61K8, C11D3, A61K31, A01N33, A61K47, A01N53, A61Q17, A01N35, A01N25, A61Q5