A 3D printed drug delivery implant formed from a dynamic supramolecular polyurethane formulation

Abstract

Prototype drug eluting implants have been 3D printed using a supramolecular polyurethane-PEG formulation. The implants are capable of releasing a pharmaceutical active with effective drug release over a period of up to 8.5 months.

3D-Printing of Drug-Eluting Implants: An Overview of the Current Developments Described in the Literature

“…This highlights the importance of suitable feeding materials for the quality of filaments, and thus for the printed implants. Similar requirements of homogeneity have to be met by the blended starting materials for other extrusion-based 3D-printing techniques regardless of whether heat is supplied or not [ 36 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 ]. Besides HME, drugs can also be incorporated into the filament matrix by immersing drug-free filaments in highly concentrated drug solutions.…”

“…The shape of a 3D-printed object depends on the predefined computer-created design and is adjustable from simple to complex geometries. Proof-of-concept studies often use simple designs like discs, cylinders or cuboids [ 37 , 58 , 71 , 74 , 78 , 141 , 142 ] for the demonstration of the performance of 3D-printing for implants, such as antibacterial efficacy or controllable drug release, by varying implant properties [ 37 , 50 , 58 , 66 , 78 , 141 ].…”

“…Besides the possibility of controlling drug release by adapting the object shape or basic material, additives could be added to the composition for the further adjustment of the sample properties. Distinctive pores were found in 3D-printed bar implants of Salimi et al [ 50 ] after seven days of the release study due to the addition of the water-soluble polymer PEG to the basic printing material of thermo-responsive supramolecular polyurethane.…”

3D Printing of Solvent-Free Supramolecular Polymers

“…Other polyurethane-based materials were recently manufactured by FDM featuring hydrogen bonds inside the polymer chains ( Salimi et al, 2020 ). 3D printing of elastomers via polyurea vitrimers was performed by Niu et al (2021 ) with a heat-driven malleability using FDM.…”

Synthetic polymer-derived single-network inks/bioinks for extrusion-based 3D printing towards bioapplications

“…Hayes and coworkers based on thermo-responsive supramolecular polyurethane (SPU), able to form self-assemble polymer network via hydrogen bonding and N2N stacking (Figure 6). 86 The material displayed suitable mechanical properties (with self-supporting and stiff, yet flexible) for hot-melt extrusion-based approach at a relatively low processing temperature (100 °C). Further to establish the potential application of SPU for 3D printing of a biomedical device, the biocompatibility of the polymeric films of polyurethane was determined by MTT assay using mouse fibroblasts (L929) which illustrated their non-cytotoxicity with more than 94% of cell…”