Patent Abstract:
an extended release formulation of diltiazem which is suitable for once - daily oral administration comprises a quantity of a quick release preparation of diltiazem or a pharmaceutically active salt thereof , mixed with a quantity of a slow release preparation of diltiazem or a pharmaceutically active salt thereof . the quick release preparation used obtains a maximal release of diltiazem within approximately 1 - 2 hours after administration , and then falls toward baseline levels . the delayed release preparation individually shows a maximal release of diltiazem at between approximately 6 - 8 hours after administration . the formulation containing the two preparation achieves a maximal release of diltiazem approximately within 1 - 2 hours after administration , and the levels of released diltiazem remain near these maximal levels for approximately another 12 hours after administration , compared to other extended release formulations of diltiazem which achieve maximal release approximately 9 hours after oral administration . the preferred embodiment is a capsule containing the formulation , which , based upon the total quantity of drug in the formulation rather than total weight of the formulation , comprises up to approximately 25 percent by weight of the quick release preparation of diltiazem , and up to 75 percent by weight of the slow release preparation of diltiazem . the present invention has application for combinations of other preparations of quick release and slow or delayed release pharmaceuticals .

Detailed Description:
(( 25 - cis - 3 -( acetoxyl )- 5 -[ 2 -( dimethylamino ) ethyl ]- 2 - 3 - dihydro - 2 -( 4 - methoxyphenyl )- 1 , 5 - benzothiazepin - 4 ( 5h )- one ) ( 1 ) is a safe and effective treatment for both stable and unstable angina pectoris . with regard to efficacy , diltiazem has been reported to be equivalent to beta - andrenergic receptor blockers ( 5 - 9 ), nitrates ( 5 , 6 ) and verapamil ( alpha -[ 3 -[[ 2 -( 3 , 4 - dimethoxyphenyl ) ethyl ] methylamino ] propyl ]- 3 , 4 [ dimethoxy - alpha -( 1 - methylethyl )- benzeneacetonitrile ( 10 )( 11 , 12 ) and more effective than nifedipine ( 1 , 4 - dihydro - 2 , 6 - dimethyl - 4 -( 2 - nitrophenyl )- 3 , 5 - pyrdinecarboxylic acid dimethyl ester ) ( 13 ) ( 14 , 15 ). although comparative studies demonstrated equivalent the anti - anginal effects for many of the calcium channel blockers on the market , these studies have shown a lower incidence of side effects with diltiazem ( 16 ). consequently , diltiazem is a frequently prescribed medication and the world wide market for it exceeds $ 1 billion as used in the context of this specification , the extended release formulation of diltiazem hydrochloride marketed as cardizem cd ( tm ) may be referred to as diltiazem cd , and referred to as a slow or delayed release preparation of diltiazem . dilacor xr ( tm ), an extended release formulation of diltiazem hydrochloride will also be referred to as diltiazem er ( extended release ), and referred to as a slow or delayed release preparation of diltiazem . diltiazem od er ( once - a - day , extended release as described in the literature ) is an extended release formulation of diltiazem and may also be referred to as a slow or delayed release preparation of diltiazem . metabolic studies have shown that diltiazem , like other calcium channel blockers , undergoes extensive first pass metabolism by the liver , with a plasma half - life in the range of 2 - 6 hours ( 17 , 19 ). briefly , first - pass metabolism refers to the rapid metabolism of a drug in the liver after a substantial portion of the absorbed dose has been extracted from the blood . this results in a significant decrease in the bioavailability of the drug , often as much as a 60 % loss . thus , a single oral dose of an immediate release preparation ( or formulation ) of diltiazem must be administered 3 - 4 times per day to provide adequate control of hypertension or angina ( 20 - 22 ). a problem associated with this dosing regimen is that patient compliance is often very low ( 23 ). further , many of the side effects noted with some of the immediate release formulations of diltiazem result from the high peak levels of the drug that occur in the plasma prior to complete distribution . in an effort to provide therapeutic blood levels of diltiazem for longer periods of times and to improve patient compliance , several slow - release or extended - release formulations of diltiazem have been developed for treatment of hypertension ( 24 - 26 ) and angina ( 27 - 30 ). such sustained release formulations may provide adequate therapeutic blood levels during the patient &# 39 ; s sleeping hours and upon waking in the morning , in addition to better patient compliance . analysis of the anti - anginal effects of the three major once - daily , extended release formulations of diltiazem reveals that all three preparations only produce a partial reduction in angina . as shown in fig1 diltiazem od er and diltiazem xr all maximally reduce the number of angina attacks by approximately 50 - 60 % regardless of how high a dose is given . both diltiazem od er ( fig1 a ) and diltiazem xr ( fig1 b ) reduced angina attacks at a dose of 120 mg , but no further effects were seen at doses as high as 540 mg . the data for diltiazem cd are not shown , but have been reported to be similar ( 28 ). these residual angina attacks can be very uncomfortable for the patients , and have the more serious potential for becoming life - threatening . analysis of the chronobiology of angina attacks in relation to the pharmacokinetics of these drugs can resolve this particular deficiency of the once - daily , extended release formulations of diltiazem . a diurnal rhythm for angina attacks has been reported , with approximately 40 - 50 % of these attacks occurring between 6 : 00 am and noon ( 31 , 32 ). fig2 illustrates data from taylor et al . ( 31 ), where practically all of the attacks occurred during the waking hours , and occurred in two distinct phases . the first phase occurred in the morning beginning at approximately 6 : 00 am and reaching a peak between approximately 8 : 00 am and 10 : 00 am . the second phase began at approximately 1 : 00 pm and lasted approximately 8 hours . other studies have shown the occurrence of similar diurnal rhythms for myocardial infarction ( 33 ), ischemic st segment depression ( 34 ) and sudden cardiac death ( 35 ). these studies suggest that it is critical to achieve proper medication levels during the morning hours where a significant amount of abnormal cardiac activity occurs . extended release formulations of diltiazem are generally taken in the morning . diltiazem is slowly released from these formulations and slowly absorbed , in order to provide an extended and long - lasting dosage . thus , by their very nature , these once - daily extended release formulations of diltiazem are unable to provide this morning medication . plasma levels of diltiazem od er , diltiazem cd ( cardizem cd ) and diltiazem xr ( dilacor xr ) increase slowly and reach peak levels only after 4 - 6 hours after ingestion , even though these drugs had been administered to the patients for 8 eight days prior to the last dose of the drug ( fig3 ). thus , for drugs taken at 8 : 00 am , peak plasma levels are not reached until approximately 12 : 00 noon and 2 : 00 pm . this slow absorption of diltiazem is not altered by increasing the dosage . in the study whose results are shown in fig4 patients in three groups were given different doses of diltiazem od er . although the peak plasma levels were increased with the increased dosage of drug , the time needed to obtain those peak levels remained relatively constant , being approximately 7 hours . these data suggest that once - daily , extended release formulations of diltiazem , if administered upon waking , are unable to provide sufficient plasma levels of drug when their presence is necessary , in the morning . the importance of achieving sufficient plasma levels in the morning is further highlighted by data shown in fig5 . in this unpublished study , patients were administered diltiazem od er at approximately 8 : 00 am daily for a two week period , and were asked to record the time of day at which angina attacks occurred . diltiazem od er did not reduce angina attacks until well into the afternoon ( approximately 4 : 00 pm and later ), once peak plasma levels were attained ; morning angina attacks were unaffected . this data may explain why the once - daily extended release formulations of diltiazem do not completely suppress angina attacks . the contents of two 180 mg capsules of dilacor xr ( tm ) were emptied , yielding 360 mg of diltiazem hydrochloride . this preparation was mixed with 120 mg of diltiazem hydrochloride . dilacor xr ( tm ) is an extended release formulation of diltiazem hydrochloride , as described earlier ( 3 ) and will be referred to here as a slow release ( or delayed release ) preparation of diltiazem . diltiazem hydrochloride is the immediate release formulation of diltiazem , and will be referred to here as a quick release preparation of diltiazem . one hundred twenty milligrams ( 120 mg ) of diltiazem hydrochloride powder were mixed with 360 mg of dilacor xr ( tm ), producing an extended release formulation of diltiazem hydrochloride . because many pharmaceutical excipients are used in the formulation of dilacor xr ( tm ), the weight of the contents of a capsule is therefore greater than the weight of the drug contained therein . therefore , as will be described below , the weight percentages described are based upon the percent weight of the drug in the preparation ( i . e ., whether the quick release or the slow release preparation ) in relation to the quantity of the active drug in the mixture . consequently , this mixture contained approximately 25 percent by weight of a quick release preparation of diltiazem , and approximately 75 percent by weight of a slow release preparation of diltiazem , based upon the percentage of diltiazem in the final mixture . an individual capsule of dilacor xr ( tm ) contains two tablets , representing its multiple diltiazem components , as described in the physician &# 39 ; s desk reference ( 3 ). the resulting mixture was then encapsulated in a larger gelatin capsule and orally administered to a healthy individual , taking no medications which would affect diltiazem plasma levels or interfere with their proper determination . controls containing either 120 mg diltiazem hydrochloride or 360 mg diltiazem er were administered separately . an interval of approximately 5 - 7 days elapsed between the administration of each agent tested in this example . an intravenous blood sample was withdrawn into pre - cooled , commercially available vacutainers ( tm ) containing edta ( ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid ) as an anticoagulant just before administration of the test agent ; this sample represented the zero time sample . the blood sample was centrifuged for 15 minutes under conditions known to those skilled in the art . the plasma portion of each sample was harvested , frozen and stored at minus 70 degrees celsius until analysis . at timed intervals after administration , additional blood samples were withdrawn and similarly treated . the plasma levels of diltiazem were determined by hplc ( high performance liquid chromatography ) analysis according to the method of eradiri ( 36 ). as shown in fig6 peak plasma levels of diltiazem were reached between approximately 1 - 2 hours after administration of diltiazem hydrochloride , the immediate release formulation ( quick release preparation ) ( triangles ). most of the quick release preparation is gone by approximately 5 - 6 hours after administration . diltiazem xr , the extended release formulation ( or slow release preparation ) individually , reached peak plasma levels after approximately 6 - 7 hours after administration , and maintained these peak levels for approximately another 10 - 12 hours . the formulation of the present invention ( squares ) achieved peak plasma levels within approximately 2 hours after administration , and maintained those peak levels for approximately 6 hours , during which time plasma levels of individually administered diltiazem hydrochloride decreased and during which time the plasma level of individually administered diltiazem xr was increasing and reaching its peak plasma level . the plasma levels of the formulation of the present invention were sustained for approximately 16 hours before they began to decline . most angina attacks have been shown to occur within the first 2 hours after waking . the present invention achieves its maximal release of diltiazem within two hours after oral administration , and maintains almost the peak diltiazem levels for an extended time period thereafter , the present invention can provide complete coverage both in the morning and in the afternoon to achieve a maximum suppression of angina attacks . further , based on the pharmacokinetics shown in fig6 a somewhat constant level of diltiazem is sustained throughout the day , eliminating major fluctuations in blood levels ( i . e ., blood plasma levels ). as described in the literature , the extended release formulations of diltiazem or diltiazem hydrochloride contain diltiazem along with various pharmaceutical excipients , such as binders or other inert ingredients , on a pharmaceutically acceptable inert core or seed . any of the binding agents known to those skilled in the art can be utilized , such as , but not meant to be limited to , starch or other sugars . other pharmaceutical excipients which may be utilized in formulating the slow release preparation include , but are not meant to be limited to , talc , stearates , acidifying agents where necessary , preservatives such as antimicrobial compounds , etc . these excipients may further include a lubricant selected from among waxes , castor oil , mineral oil , and others . the coating agents used to form the slow release preparation can be selected from a variety of compounds known to those skilled in the art . for example , the formulation of hendrickson et al . in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 286 , 497 employs a polymeric coating using polymerized acrylate compounds , although they describe that one of a number of other such compounds can be used . the formulation described by geoghegen et al . in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 917 , 899 similarly employs a coating prepared from acrylate polymers to effect the slow release of diltiazem from the core . methods of encapsulating or tableting these preparations are also known to those skilled in the art . the capsules can be either a hard or soft gelatin capsule . the terms &# 34 ; agent &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; drug &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; pharmaceutical &# 34 ;, or &# 34 ; pharmaceutically active compound &# 34 ;, have been used interchangeably when referring to the compound being released from the formulation . these compounds can include those which act on various organs of the body , antibiotics , other antimicrobials , beta - blockers , calcium channel blockers , neurological agents , etc . all of the references cited in this specification are hereby incorporated by reference to the extent pertinent . the formulation and its applications described in the present invention is not intended to be limited to those embodiments illustrated in the examples , but only to the extent described in the following claims . 1 . merck and co ., inc . diltiazem . merck index 1996 , 12th ed . no . 3247 , p . 3249 . 2 . marion merrill dow . cardizem ( tm ) cd capsules . physician &# 39 ; s desk reference . 1995 . 49th ed . 1399 . 3 . rhone - poulenc rorer . dilacor xr . physician &# 39 ; s desk reference . 1995 . 49th ed . 1966 . 4 . forest pharmaceuticals , inc . tiazac . physician &# 39 ; s desk reference . 1998 , 52nd ed . 957 - 959 . 5 . cohn , p . f ., concomitant use of nitrates , calcium channel blockers , and beta - blockers for optimal antianginal therapy . clin . cardiol . 1994 17 : 415 - 421 . 6 . chan , p . k ., heo ., j . y ., garibian , g . et al ., the role of nitrates , beta blockers , and calcium antagonists in stable angina pectoris . am . heart j . 1988 116 : 838 - 848 . 7 . humen , d . p ., o &# 39 ; brien , p ., purves , p ., et al , effort angina with adequate beta - receptor blockade : comparison with diltiazem alone and in combination . j . am . coll . cardiol . 1986 7 : 329 - 335 . 8 . kenny , j ., kiff , p ., holmes , j . et al ., beneficial effects of diltiazem and propranolol , alone and in combination , in patients with stable angina pectoris . br . heart j . 1985 53 : 43 - 46 . 9 . kostuk , w . j ., pflugfelder , p . comparative effects of calcium entry - blocking drugs , and their combination in patients with chronic stable angina . circulation 1987 75 : v114 - 121 . 10 . merck & amp ; co ., inc . verapamil . merck index 1996 12th ed . no . 10083 , p 1696 . 11 . belin , a ., grien , p ., mabire , j . p ., et al ., [ comparison of the efficacy of verapamil and diltiazem in stable exercise angina . a double - blind and crossover study ]. arch . mal . coeur vaiss 1990 83 : 393 - 398 . ( in french ) 12 . chaffman , m ., brogden , r . n . diltiazem . a review of its pharmacological properties and therapeutic efficacy . drugs 1985 29 : 387 - 454 . 13 . merck & amp ; co ., inc . nifedipine . merck index 1996 12th ed . no . 6617 , p 1121 . 14 . bory , m ., gillet , t ., bonnet , j . l ., et al ., [ comparative study of effects of diltiazem , nifedipine and their combination on exercise stable angina .] arch . mal . coeur vaiss 1991 84 : 235 - 242 . 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