Appeal No. 2006-3234 Application No. 90/006,410 26. The ‘106 disclosure lists “inadequate or excessive moisture content of the granulate” as a possible cause of capping. (‘106 at 2:2-7). 27. Otaya also recognizes a link between moisture content and capping. 28. Otaya “found that capping depended on the amount of moisture and could be almost completely eliminated.” (Otaya at 1). 29. Otaya discloses that “it is a well-known fact that when a medicine is made into a tablet by a stamping machine, in nearly all cases a binding agent is added to the formation” and that “even if a binding agent is added, capping often occurs.” (Otaya at 1). 30. Otaya describes an “experiment” where the drug sulfamin was made into tablets. (Otaya at 1). 31. Otaya used sulfamin tablets having various moisture contents in the range of .24% to 1.25%. (Otaya at 4, Table 2). 32. Otaya concluded that “[g]ranule moisture is an important cause of capping[,]…the greater the stamping pressure, the stronger the capping tendency;…[t]here is no correlation between hardness and capping;..[and] the size of sulfamin crystal particles had little effect on capping”. (Otaya at 4). 33. Otaya does not disclose a tablet containing metformin. Evenstad 34. Evenstad teaches tablets formed by a wet granulation technique using an aqueous solvent, hydroxypropyl cellulose for 7Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: September 9, 2013