Medicinal tablet containing identification fragments

Aug. 24, 1954

MEDICINAL TABLET

P. L. BURRIN 2,687,367

CONTAINING IDENTIFICATION FRAGMENTS

Filed May 5, 1952

<img file="US2687367A_D0001.tif" />

/2

<img file="US2687367A_D0002.tif" />

Sy

<img file="US2687367A_D0003.tif" />

Patented Aug. 24, 1954

2,687,367

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,687,367

MEDICINAL TABLET CONTAINING IDENTIFICATION FRAGMENTS ^P p,¹? ^L· ^Burrhi, IndianapoUs, Ind., assignor Eh Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, Ind corporation of Indiana ’

Application May 5,1952, Serial No. 286,157 (Cl. 167—82) to a

Claims.

This invention relates to a protective identification of ethical drugs such as tablets, capsules and the like and to a method of producing such medications having such protective identification.

In the practice of medicine it is customary, in many instances and for various reasons to conceal from the patient the name, nature and/or character of the medicament prescribed for the illness being treated. For this reason, the manufacturer of ethical drugs, cooperating with the medical profession, for the most part refrains from placing any mark or indicia on the medicine per se, i. e., upon the tablet, capsule, pill, or the like, the identification of the medicament and brand name being affixed as by label to a bottle or other container in which such drug items are customarily packaged. This has several disadvantages amongst which is the extreme disadvantage flowing from an unscrupulous substitution oi palming off” of a possibly inferior substitute ! or unwanted or unprescribed tablet, pill or capsule for the particular ethical drug called for by the prescription.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a,n ethical drug product such as a pill, tablet ²⁵capsule or the like which is secretively marked so as to be easily identifiable by the ethical drug manufacturer, his agent or representative, the druggist or physician, and yet which is not readily the naSnf ^{and remains} lively secret fro£ 30 ΐιΧΚ? JJcvUlcITD.

°^bje^ °^{f thiS in}vention is to provide an ethical drug identification means of the above ^•^^{WhlCh is simple}&gt; effective, easily accomplished conformably to present day mass pro°/ ?^nvention will become apparent from the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings wherein:

ig. 1 is an enlarged side elevation, partly in ®^actl°n, of an uncoated medicinal base tablet of X^c£“S‘^{n Bhlch llie} »θ t^Vi^eW-f^{imilar t0 Fig}· ^{1 bufc} showing ΪΖΛ™ ^{fc blet TOth the usual coatlng applied}tnereover.

^Tbe tabiet 10 shown in Fig. 1 is of the usual ellipsoidal shape and of the customary form used generally by the pharmaceutical industry. It will be understood that the representation of a tablet for the embodiment of the invention is for illustrative purposes only and that the invention can as well find use in the secretive identification of , capsules, pills and other like items used in preparing medicaments for administration.

Generally speaking, the granulations (indicated by cross section lines at 11 in Figs. 1 and 2) composing medicinal tablets are of a size ranging S ²« ‘° ^s»«° The invention S! thorough mixing of innocuous, inert Xi^ee;nm^{gmentS 12} °^{f gelatin}- ^methyl ^Mose, ethyl cellulose, sucrose or the like and of a size ί ^.^be X °^{f 250 t0 840 microns} into the granulation II constituting the tablet compound in such a manner as to uniformly but randomly disperse the fragments completely and thorand/or ^compound- While methyl ^{thyl celIulose} fragments may foe used, cause tiie^riAti^r°^{Se fragments are} Preferred beinX h ^{1 are assimda}ble or metabolizible ^1P human system. The fragments 12 are added in relatively small proportions to the total composition, i. e., the quantity of fragments added is from one to ten percent of the total composition. Following this the compound with the colored fragments thoroughly mteed thZrehi i!

ioim illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 wherein it is observed that the colored fragments are clearlv visible over all surfaces of the base tahipt· tn 7,^e g ^{as tbe sec}tioned portion thereof. Fragments £arv ±^Wn X^{he illustra}-tion as being t“!

y colors, red, blue and yellow It will hp understood of course that Λ. . , ^W“1 be combination Zr V ^{e tbat any 51η}§1θ color or ombmation of colors may be used and that the ^mXK^S^ryandsetf^-S Foliowin^g the compression of the medicinal coatinJ nf t ^{b applled a} continuous enveloping coating of transparent wax 15. From this η Z vol” a“S_eS,7??⁴ ”» ω Of the character than that which the MtienJ °^ther

2,687,367 vision of the colored gelatin fragments the pharmaceutical manufacturer or his field representative may readily ascertain whether a substitution or “palming off” of a possibly inferior or unwanted or unprescribed product for the particula manufacturer’s product has been or is being attempted to be effected as by simply removing a sufficient portion of the coating materials (5 4, and 13 to expose at least a moderate sized sur face portion of the base tablet (0 or by simply sectioning or breaking the tablet open toexpose its interior. This will expose the colored fragments to view and their particular size and color combination will readily identify the manufac- . turer’s product, whereas upon applying the same test to a substitute product such fragments wil be either entirely absent or not within the proper color combination to identify the product as being supplied by the particular manufacturer.

Hence it will be seen that I have provided by my invention a simple, inexpensive and secretive means of positively giving identification to ethical drugs in tablet or like form and a method of making such tablets or the like which is simply efficiently and economically adaptable to the customary manufacturing methods and techniques employed by the pharmaceutical industry in the manufacture of such items. At the same time, my invention retains the product completely free of any suggestion to the ultimate consumer of the nature and/or character of the medicament prescribed for any specific illness which is being treated thereby meeting the demands of the medical .practitioner. 35