Highly Porous and Drug-Loaded Amorphous Solid Dispersion Microfiber Scaffolds of Indomethacin Prepared by Melt Electrowriting

Abstract

Melt electrowriting (MEW) is an additive manufacturing technology enabling the production of highly porous microfiber scaffolds, suggested in particular for use in biomedical applications, including drug delivery. Indomethacin (IND) is a nonselective anti-inflammatory drug, for which sublingual delivery could offer advantages such as rapid absorption by the veins in the mouth floor while overcoming the side effects of peroral delivery such as damage to the gastrointestinal mucosa barrier. This study introduces MEW as a processing method to obtain rapid-dissolving drug-releasing scaffolds, containing IND as a model drug, for sublingual drug delivery applications. For this, an amorphous solid dispersion (ASD) of IND in combination with a poly(2-oxazoline)-based amphiphilic triblock copolymer excipient is introduced, enabling ultra-high drug loading. We prepared highly porous, melt electrowritten drug-loaded scaffolds with different polymer/IND w/w ratios up to 1:2 and assessed their morphology, amorphicity, and IND release rate. The results show completely amorphous dispersion of the polymer and drug after MEW processing resulting in smooth and uniform fibers and rapid dissolution of the drug-loaded scaffold. These first water-soluble melt electrowritten IND-loaded microfiber scaffolds break ground as a model for rapid sublingual delivery of ultra-high drug-loaded ASDs.