CRAVING REDUCTION METHOD AND TOOTHPICK DELIVERY SYSTEM FOR ACTIVE E.G. NICOTINE

METHODE DE REDUCTION D'ETAT DE MANQUE ET DISTRIBUTEUR DE CURE-DENTS DESTINES P. EX. A UN FUMEUR ACTIF

Claims

CLAIMS:
The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege
is claimed are defined as
follows:"
23. A method of substituting harmful and unpleasant behavior with a less
detrimental and less socially
unacceptable behavior.
24. A delivery system (e.g. for nicotine that controls tobacco cravings),
comprising: an orally manipulatable
wood base material; and active intermixed with said wood base material, said
active, upon oral
manipulation of the toothpick base material by a user for therewith causing
release of a dose of active
achieving a rapid transmucosally absorbable pharmacological effect (e.g.
reducing tobacco craving.)
25. The system of Claim 24, wherein said dose releases between 0.01 and O.l
milligrams of nicotine within.
minutes of commencing chewing.
26. A two-stage active delivery system, comprising: a toothpick, means
cooperating with said toothpick for
providing an initial dose of a medicine capable of achieving a rapid
transmucosally absorbable
pharmacological effect upon oral manipulation of said toothpick and a second
dose of said medicine
capable of achieving a prolonged transmucosally absorbable pharmacological
effect upon subsequent
reversing of said toothpick.
27. The two-stage medicine delivery system of claim 26, wherein said initial
and second doses are separate
forms of said medicine.
28. The two-stage medicine delivery system of claim 26, wherein the medicine
is nicotine.
29. The two-stage medicine delivery system of claim 26, wherein said medicine
is nicotine or other active.
30. The two-stage medicine delivery system of claim 27, wherein one of said
doses is a nicotine salt and the
other of said doses is nicotine polacrilex.
31. The two-stage medicine delivery system of claim 27, wherein said initial
dose releases between 0.01 and
0.1 milligrams of nicotine within 5 minutes of having been placed in a user's
mouth.
32. The two-stage medicine delivery system of claim 31, wherein said means
second dose maintains, for at
least 20 minutes a prolonged concentration of active in the user's blood which
is at least as high as the active
concentration achieved in the user's blood by the initial dose.
33. The two-stage medicine delivery system of claim 32, wherein said initial
nicotine concentration is at
least 0.01 nanograms of nicotine per milliliter of blood.
34. The two-stage medicine delivery system of claim 33, wherein the prolonged
concentration of nicotine is
at least 0.05 nanogram of nicotine per milliliter of blood.
35. The two-stage medicine delivery system of claim 32, wherein said medicine
is a craving counteracting
substance, and said rapid and prolonged therapeutic effects include a rapid
and prolonged reduction of a
craving.
36. A two-stage nicotine delivering product for use in counteracting cravings
for nicotine-containing
tobacco products, comprising: a wood base; a nicotine compound mixed with the
base so that oral actuation
of the base causes the nicotine compound to be released into a user's mouth
for transmucosal absorption
within the first 5 minutes after oral actuation begins; and a nicotine
maintenance compound mixed with the
base so that oral actuation of the base causes the nicotine maintenance
compound to be released into the
user's mouth for prolonged transmucosal absorption which lasts at least 20
minutes beyond said first five

minutes.
37. The two-stage nicotine delivering product of claim 36, wherein said
nicotine loading compound is 0.01
to 0.1 milligrams of a nicotine salt.
38. The two-stage nicotine delivering product of claim 37, wherein said
nicotine salt is nicotine tartrate.
39. The two-stage nicotine delivering product of claim 36, wherein said
nicotine maintenance compound is
.1 to .4 milligrams of nicotine in an ion exchange resin gum.
40. The two-stage nicotine delivering product of claim 39, wherein said
nicotine in an ion exchange resin
gum is nicotine polacrilex.
41. The two-stage nicotine delivering product of claim 36, wherein said
nicotine maintenance compound is
.1 to .4 milligrams of encapsulated nicotine salt.
42. The two-stage nicotine delivering product of claim 36, wherein said
nicotine maintenance compound is
adapted to maintain, for said at least 20 minutes, a prolonged concentration
of nicotine in the user's blood
which is at least as high as a loaded nicotine concentration achieved in the
user's blood by said nicotine
loading compound.
43. The two-stage nicotine delivering product of claim 42, wherein said loaded
nicotine concentration is at
least .2 nanograms of nicotine per milliliter of blood.
44. The two-stage nicotine delivering product of claim 43, wherein said
prolonged concentration of nicotine
is at least 1 nanogram of nicotine per milliliter of blood.
45. A method of making a medicine delivery system which reduces a craving when
orally retained, said
method comprising the steps of providing a base material which is adapted to
be retained in a user's mouth;
mixing a loading compound into the base material so that said loading compound
remains releasable and
rapidly transmucosally absorbable to counteract said craving within 5 minutes
after the base material is
orally retained; and mixing a maintenance compound into the base material so
that said maintenance
compound remains releasable and transmucosally absorbable over a prolonged
period of time to counteract
said craving for at least 20 minutes after oral retention of the base material
begins.
46. The method of claim 45, wherein said craving is a nicotine craving and
said loading compound is 0.2 to
0.7 milligrams of nicotine salt.
47. The method of claim 45, wherein said craving is a nicotine craving and
said maintenance compound is 1
to 4 grams of nicotine in an ion exchange resin gum.
48. The method of claim 47. wherein said 1 to 4 grams of nicotine in an ion
exchange resin gum is nicotine
polacrilex.
49. The method of claim 47, wherein said craving is a nicotine craving and
said maintenance compound is
encapsulated nicotine salt.
50. A graduated amount of active increasing in concentration from a minimal at
each end of said toothpick
to a maximum at the middle achieving results in an individually tailored dose
depending upon tenacity of
chewing.
51. A method to achieve claim 50, comprising an initial complete soak of wood
base material in active and
a secondary partial soak in a neutral (e.g. water).

Description

CA 02371524 2002-02-07
SPECIFICATION:
This invention relates to an oral delivery system for an active in the form of
a manually manipulated
toothpick. It is common in devices such as this to have a flavor agent added
for chewing appeal; it is of
course not necessary but superficially appealing. This flavor additive has no
other effect pharmacologically.
Other means by which a pharmacologically active may be delivered (e.g. gum) do
not always appeal to
every individual and the manually dexterous actions common in the activity of
smoking are not addressed.
However the manipulation of a toothpick closely mimic that of smoking, thereby
appealing more to those so
use to, perhaps one could even say addicted to, those actions. Also the
packaging system may resemble that
of historically typical cigarette packaging, with toothpicks inserted into a
foam block at the bottom of the
packaging. Flavor additives may also mimic cigarette types (e.g. U. S. or
Canadian types) as well as the
more traditional mint and cinnamon varieties.
PICTURES: Fig 1 TOOTHPICK
CLAIMS: Show all claims
*** Note: Data on abstracts and claims is shown in the official language in
which it was submitted.