Abstract
Selective laser sintering (SLS) is a single-step three-dimensional printing (3DP) process that can be leveraged to engineer a wide array of drug delivery systems. The aim of this work was to utilise SLS 3DP, for the first time, to produce small oral dosage forms with modified release properties. As such, paracetamol-loaded 3D printed multiparticulates, termed miniprintlets, were fabricated in 1 mm and 2 mm diameters. Despite their large surface area compared with a conventional monolithic tablet, the ethyl cellulose-based miniprintlets exhibited prolonged drug release patterns. The possibility of producing miniprintlets combining two drugs, namely paracetamol and ibuprofen, was also investigated. By varying the polymer, the dual miniprintlets were programmed to achieve customised drug release patterns, whereby one drug was released immediately from a Kollicoat Instant Release matrix, whilst the effect of the second drug was sustained over an extended time span using ethyl cellulose. Herein, this work has highlighted the versatility of SLS 3DP to fabricate small and intricate formulations containing multiple active pharmaceutical ingredients with distinct release properties.
Highlights
Three-dimensional printing (3DP) is a revolutionary additive manufacturing technology that can transform 3D designs into real objects by sequential layering [1]
The dual miniprintlets were fabricated in two different configurations; in configuration A (Con A), paracetamol was mixed with Kollicoat Instant Release (IR) (Par/Kollicoat Instant Release (KIR) region) and ibuprofen was with ethyl cellulose (Ibu/EC region)
In configuration B (Con B), the positions of the drugs were switched and paracetamol was mixed with ethyl cellulose (Par/EC region), whilst ibuprofen was with Kollicoat IR (Ibu/KIR region)
Summary
Three-dimensional printing (3DP) is a revolutionary additive manufacturing technology that can transform 3D designs into real objects by sequential layering [1]. This technology can create highly precise dosage forms with varying shapes [8] and sizes [9,10], enabling the local delivery of drugs to specified organs [11,12,13] and offering versatile drug release modes [14,15]. This technique could be implemented as a digitised production tool for the remote design, development and dispensing of bespoke medications optimised to each patient’s needs [18,19]
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