The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 19, 2001
Filed:
Sep. 30, 1999
Karl M. Gelotte, North Wales, PA (US);
Joseph D'Silva, North Wales, PA (US);
Aventis Pharmaceuticals Products Inc., Bridgewater, NJ (US);
Abstract
A novel process has been developed for the treatment of crosslinked ethylene-propylene diene monomer (EPDM) elastomer material to decrease its residual peroxide levels. EPDM is used to form the seats and neck gaskets of metering valves used in metered-dose inhalers (MDI). For filled and inverted MDI units these EPDM components are in direct contact with the pharmaceutical formulation media. The process involves exposing the EPDM valve components to a solution of 2-mercaptoethanol, a chemical reducing agent. The 2-mercaptoethanol greatly diminishes the residual peroxide levels in EPDM by reducing the peroxide functional groups to the corresponding hydroxyl groups. EPDM components treated in this manner have demonstrated very low peroxide levels and, consequently, greatly improved compatibility with the pharmaceutical formulation in the inhaler. An advantage of this approach is that the treated EPDM would likely retain its favorable physical properties and its good performance in metering valves. In this work 2-mercaptoethanol was used as the model reducing agent. It is believed, however, that similar positive results can be obtained using other reducing agents, notably other volatile compounds containing sulfur in one of its lower valence states (i.e. other thiol compounds or sulfur dioxide).