Patent ID: 8709486

Claim:
A composition suitable for administration to a subject, the composition comprising pharmacologically acceptable pre-formed solid particulate material dispersed throughout a pharmacologically acceptable liquid carrier, the particulate material having a largest dimension that is less than 0.5 microns and being maintained in the dispersed state by a steric stabilizer such that a dispersion is obtained which is stable over two weeks when diluted in a 0.15M NaCl solution, wherein the steric stabiliser is a polymeric material comprising a steric stabilising polymeric segment and an anchoring polymeric segment, one or both of which are derived from one or more ethylenically unsaturated monomers that have been polymerised by a living polymerisation technique, wherein the steric stabilising polymeric segment is different from the anchoring polymeric segment, and wherein the anchoring polymeric segment has an affinity toward the surface of the particulate material and secures the stabiliser to the particulate material, and wherein the steric stabiliser is a block copolymer having a number average molecular weight of less than 30,000.