Method for precipitation of small medicament particles into use containers

A method for the simultaneous formation of particles within plural containers, the method comprising:

• locating plural containers within a pressurizable chamber, each container being at least partially open to the atmosphere within the chamber and having a quantity of a liquid therein, said liquid comprising liquid carrier and material to be precipitated;
• heating and pressurizing said chamber;
• introducing an antisolvent for the material into the chamber and establishing temperature and pressure conditions within said chamber that are at near-supercritical or supercritical conditions for said antisolvent thereby forming supercritical antisolvent, wherein said supercritical conditions include a temperature of 0.7-1.4 Tc and a pressure of 0.2-7 Pc for said antisolvent;
• with an ultrasonic device remote from the liquid containing material to be separated, generating ultrasonic energy waves within said near-supercritical or supercritical antisolvent in said chamber and propagating said waves through said near-supercritical or supercritical antisolvent in the interior of said chamber and into said containers thereby mixing said liquid and said supercritical antisolvent, supersaturating the liquid with the material to be separated, dissolving the liquid in the supercritical antisolvent, and precipitating the material as particles in said containers;
• flowing additional supercritical antisolvent through the chamber after precipitation of the material as particles in said containers;
• removing said antisolvent and liquid from said chamber and said containers, thereby leaving said particles in said containers;
• and
• reducing the pressure within said chamber to approximately atmospheric after said removing.