Patent ID: 6991191

Claim:
A method of milling a pharmaceutical product comprising: (a) providing a dispersion containing the product to be milled and attrition milling media, wherein the attrition milling media has a mean particle size of less than about 1000 microns; (b) inserting the dispersion into a vessel; (c) providing an agitator and a coupling that closes the vessel, the coupling having an opening through which a portion of the agitator extends, the agitator comprising a rotor and a shaft extending therefrom, wherein the rotor is dimensioned so that an outer periphery is no greater than 3 mm away from an inner surface of the wall of the vessel; (d) inserting the agitator into the vessel and sealingly closing the coupling, wherein the vessel is filled so that the dispersion eliminates substantially all of the air in the vessel when the agitator is fully inserted into the vessel; and (e) rotating the agitator for a predetermined period, wherein the resulting milled pharmaceutical product has a submicron mean particle size.