Patent ID: 8303741

Claim:
A process for producing an oral preparation containing a first water-swellable gel-forming layer and a second water-swellable gel-forming layer as outermost layers, a medicine being sealed in an inner space formed by bonding the periphery of the first water-swellable gel-forming layer and the periphery of the second water-swellable gel-forming layer directly or via an adhesive layer, the process comprising, sequentially, the steps of: forming a first water-swellable gel-forming layer on a first supporting body; forming a recess in a predetermined area of the first water-swellable gel-forming layer by pressing the predetermined area of the first water-swellable gel-forming layer; filling the recess with a medicine to obtain a medicine-containing body; and forming a second water-swellable gel-forming layer over the medicine-containing body directly or via an adhesive layer so that the first water-swellable gel-forming layer and the second water-swellable gel-forming layer are bonded around the recess; wherein the step of forming a second water-swellable gel-forming layer comprises either: obtaining a laminate by forming a second water-swellable gel-forming layer on a second supporting body and layering the laminate on the medicine-containing body by heat bonding, with the second water-swellable gel-forming layer side being on the side of the medicine-containing body on which the medicine is exposed, and removing the second supporting body; or obtaining a laminate by forming a second water-swellable gel-forming layer and an adhesive layer on a second supporting body and layering the laminate on the medicine-containing body by heat bonding, with the adhesive layer side being on the side of the medicine-containing body on which the medicine is exposed, and removing the second supporting body.