Sustained release fluoride and calcium composition

Claim 1

A medication for providing fluoride ions for the treatment and prevention of bone loss disease, including osteoporosis and alveolar bone loss, which comprises a unitary dosage capsule containing from about 20 to 100 milligrams of sodium monofluorophosphate and of a calcium-containing composition providing 250 mg of calcium ion selected from calcium carbonate, dicalcium phosphate, calcium citrate, calcium glycerophosphate, calcium lactate, calcium levulinate, calcium galactogluconate and calcium gluconate and further containing means for controlling the release of the monofluorophosphate over a period extending from four hours up to eight hours after swallowing, whereby the quantity of fluoride ions at any given time is below the threshold value at which gastric irritation will occur, the means for controlling release of the monofluorophosphate and calcium comprising a hard dry compacted mass of water-swellable powder or fibers of cellulose material forming a coherent network as a matrix in which the monofluorophosphate and calcium are uniformly and homogeneously dispersed, whereby, upon introduction of the unitary dosage into an aqueous medium, the powder or fibers at the surface of the unitary dosage soften and loosen from the remaining mass to thereby release a stream of the monofluorophosphate and calcium.