Pharmaceutical or nutraceutical composition with sustained release characteristic and with resistance against the influence of ethanol

1. A pharmaceutical or nutraceutical composition, comprising:

a) a core, comprising a pharmaceutical or a nutraceutical active ingredient;

b) an inner coating layer comprising a salt of alginic acid; and

c) an outer coating layer comprising a polymer or copolymer which is insoluble in water over a pH range of 1-14 and which comprises free-radical polymerized units of more than 95 up to 100% by weight C 1 - to C 4 -alkyl esters of acrylic or of methacrylic acid and less than 5% by weight of acrylic or methacrylic acid, belongs to the group of vinyl polymers or copolymers or to the group of water-insoluble celluloses;

wherein a ratio by weight of the amount of the salt of alginic acid in the inner coating layer to the amount of the water-insoluble polymer or copolymer in the outer coating layer is from 2.5:1 to 15:1,

wherein said pharmaceutical or nutraceutical active ingredient is not a therapeutical bacteria; and

wherein the release of the pharmaceutical or nutraceutical active ingredient, in % under in-vitro conditions at pH 1.2 for 2 hours in simulated gastric fluid according to USP and subsequent buffer pH 6.8 without the addition of ethanol, does not differ by more than plus/minus 20% as an absolute percentage in the same media with the addition of 40% v/v ethanol.

2. The pharmaceutical or nutraceutical composition according to claim 1 , wherein the total amount of the inner coating layer is in the range of 10 to 100% by weight in relation to the weight of the core.

3. The pharmaceutical or nutraceutical composition according to claim 1 , wherein, except for the inner coating layer and the outer coating layer, no further controlling layers are present which control the release the pharmaceutical or a nutraceutical active ingredient.

4. The pharmaceutical or nutraceutical composition according to claim 1 , wherein the salt of alginic acid in the inner coating layer has a viscosity of 30 to 720 cP of a 1% aqueous solution based on weight/weight.

5. The pharmaceutical or nutraceutical composition according to claim 1 , wherein the inner coating layer further comprises up to 70% by weight of a pharmaceutical or nutraceutically acceptable excipient.

6. The pharmaceutical or nutraceutical composition according to claim 1 , wherein the release, in % of the pharmaceutical or nutraceutical active ingredient under in-vitro conditions at pH 1.2 for 2 hours in simulated gastric fluid according to USP and subsequent buffer pH 6.8 without the addition of calcium ions, does not differ by more than plus/minus 20% as an absolute percentage in the same media with the addition of 1.25 mM calcium ions.

7. The pharmaceutical or nutraceutical composition according to claim 1 , wherein the release of the pharmaceutical or nutraceutical active ingredient under in-vitro conditions after 2 hours at pH 1.2 in simulated gastric fluid and subsequent change of the medium to buffered medium of pH 6.8 according to USP is 30 to 100% in a total time from 4 to 16 hours.

8. The pharmaceutical or nutraceutical composition according to claim 1 , wherein the core or the inner coating layer or the outer coating layer comprise at least one pharmaceutical or nutraceutically acceptable excipients selected from the group consisting of an antioxidant, a brightener, a binding agent, a flavoring agent, a flow aid, a fragrance, a glidant, a penetration-promoting agent, a pigment, a plasticizer, a polymer, different from the salt of alginic acid and different from the water-insoluble polymer or a cellulosic polymer, a pore-forming agent and a stabilizer.

9. The pharmaceutical or nutraceutical composition according to claim 1 , wherein the water-insoluble polymer belongs to the group of (meth)acrylate copolymers.

10. The pharmaceutical or nutraceutical composition according to claim 1 , wherein the pharmaceutical or nutraceutical composition is gastric resistant and is a coated tablet, a coated minitablet, a coated pellet, a coated granule, a sachet, a capsule filled with coated pellets or with powder or with granules, or a coated capsule.

11. A process for producing the pharmaceutical or nutraceutical composition according to claim 1 , comprising

forming the core comprising the active ingredient by direct compression, compression of dry, wet or sintered granules, by extrusion and subsequent rounding off, by wet or dry granulation, by direct pelleting or by binding powders onto active ingredient-free beads or neutral cores or active ingredient-containing particles and

applying the inner coating layer and the outer coating layer in the form of an aqueous dispersion or an organic solution in a spray process or by fluidized bed spray granulation.

12. A sustained release pharmaceutical or nutraceutical composition with resistance against the influence of calcium ions, comprising the pharmaceutical or nutraceutical composition according to claim 1 .

13. The pharmaceutical or nutraceutical composition according to claim 1 , wherein

the ratio by weight of the amount of the salt of alginic acid in the inner coating layer to the amount of the water-insoluble polymer or copolymer in the outer coating layer is from 2.5:1 to 12:1.

14. The pharmaceutical or nutraceutical composition according to claim 1 , wherein

the ratio by weight of the amount of the salt of alginic acid in the inner coating layer to the amount of the water-insoluble polymer or copolymer in the outer coating layer is from 3:1 to 12:1.

15. The pharmaceutical or nutraceutical composition according to claim 1 , wherein

the ratio by weight of the amount of the salt of alginic acid in the inner coating layer to the amount of the water-insoluble polymer or copolymer in the outer coating layer is from 4:1 to 12:1.