3D printed multi-compartment capsular devices for two-pulse oral drug delivery

Abstract

In the drug delivery area, versatile therapeutic systems intended to yield customized combinations of drugs, drug doses and release kinetics have drawn increasing attention, especially because of the advantages that personalized pharmaceutical treatments would offer. In this respect, a previously proposed capsular device able to control the release performance based on its design and composition, which could extemporaneously be filled, was improved to include multiple separate compartments so that differing active ingredients or formulations may be conveyed. The compartments, which may differ in thickness and composition, resulted from assembly of two hollow halves through a joint also acting as a partition. The systems were manufactured by fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing, which holds special potential for product personalization, and injection molding (IM) that would enable production on a larger scale. Through combination of compartments having wall thickness of 600 or 1200μm, composed of promptly soluble, swellable/erodible or enteric soluble polymers, devices showing two-pulse release patterns, consistent with the nature of the starting materials, were obtained. Systems fabricated using the two techniques exhibited comparable performance, thus proving the prototyping ability of FDM versus IM.

Development and Optimisation of Novel Polymeric Compositions for Sustained Release Theophylline Caplets (PrintCap) via FDM 3D Printing

“…This is particularly beneficial for hospitals in remote areas so that they can supply their own patients with just-in-time medications. Apart from that, 3D printing can be used to produce dosage forms with complex shapes and different release patterns cost-effectively, which can otherwise be relatively expensive and difficult to achieve with traditional manufacturing methods [4][5][6]. It is quite difficult to produce products with high complexity via traditional pharmaceutical processes such as compression and encapsulation, and it is not effective in terms of producing personalised products [7].…”

‘Temporary Plasticiser’: A novel solution to fabricate 3D printed patient-centred cardiovascular ‘Polypill’ architectures

“…However, the use of such a high concentration of plasticiser would yield a highly flexible filament that is incompatible with FDM 3D printing process. On the other hand, an extruded filament of PVA/sorbitol (70: 30) composition (providing a Tg of 55°C) is compatible for FDM 3D printing. However, preliminary studies identified that it requires a high temperature for extrusion and FDM 3D printing (180 and 220°C respectively), which will result in the degradation of the model drugs ( Table 2).…”

“…Fused deposition modelling (FDM) 3D printing has therefore been proposed as an alternative method for 3D printing of tablets [16,17] and medical devices [18]. The method allows the fabrication of immediate [19][20][21], delayed [22,23], extended release tablets [24][25][26][27][28] as well as for dual drug delivery systems [29][30][31]. The technology offers several advantages such as the lower cost, absence of finishing step, small place requirement and obviation for material recycling [13,32].…”

Retentive drug delivery systems based on shape memory materials

“…Moreover, it is a thermoplastic polymer suited for hot‐processing via hot‐melt extrusion (HME) and fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing . Based on experience previously built in the relevant use, mainly for oral delivery targets, such techniques have been employed in view of the versatility they would grant in terms of achievable shapes and sizes for the intravesical device as well as of the interesting overall applications they may offer . Among these, the potential of HME for continuous manufacturing and the rapid prototyping ability of FDM, along with its prospective use as a tool for therapy customization, have drawn special attention .…”

“…22 Based on experience previously built in the relevant use, mainly for oral delivery targets, such techniques have been employed in view of the versatility they would grant in terms of achievable shapes and sizes for the intravesical device as well as of the interesting overall applications they may offer. [23][24][25][26] Among these, the potential of HME for continuous manufacturing and the rapid prototyping ability of FDM, along with its prospective use as a tool for therapy customization, have drawn special attention. 27,28 Notably, the presence of shape memory components, allowing morphology changes to occur upon exposure to proper external stimuli after the 3D printing process, has provided the basis for 4D printing, the fourth dimension lying in the time frame during which the programmed shape modifications would take place.…”