3D printing in personalized drug delivery: An overview of hot-melt extrusion-based fused deposition modeling

Abstract

Advancements in pharmaceutical technologies have led to the personalization of therapies over the last decade. Three-dimensional printing (3DP) is an emerging technique in the manufacturing of pharmaceutical dosage forms because of its potential to create complex and customized dosage forms according to the patient’s needs. Among the various 3DP techniques based on different functioning mechanisms, fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing is a versatile and widely used method with advantages such as precision of quantity and the ability to incorporate different fill densities. This method is also economical and easily produces complex designs. Hot-melt extrusion (HME) is an established technique in pharmaceutical manufacturing that is utilized in the development of filaments which are used as “ink roll” or feedstock material in FDM 3D printing. This review discusses the various stages involved in FDM 3D printing, including feedstock filament preparation using HME, digital dosage form designs, filament characterization, and various novel applications, and future perspectives.