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Immediate Release 3D-Printed Tablets Produced Via Fused Deposition Modeling of a Thermo-Sensitive Drug

  • Research Paper
  • Theme: 3D Printing of Pharmaceutical and Medical Applications: A New Era
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

Dissolution speeds of tablets printed via Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) so far are significantly lower compared to powder or granule pressed immediate release tablets. The aim of this work was to print an actual immediate release tablet by choosing suitable polymers and printing designs, also taking into account lower processing temperatures (below 100°C) owing to the used model drug pantoprazole sodium.

Methods

Five different pharmaceutical grade polymers polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP K12), polyethylene glycol 6000 (PEG 6000), Kollidon® VA64, polyethylene glycol 20,000 (PEG 20,000) and poloxamer 407 were successfully hot-melt-extruded to drug loaded filaments and printed to tablets at the required low temperatures.

Results

Tablets with the polymers PEG 6000 and PVP K12 and with a proportion of 10% pantoprazole sodium (w/w) demonstrated a fast drug release that was completed within 29 min or 10 min, respectively. By reducing the infill rate of PVP tablets to 50% and thereby increase the tablet porosity it was even possible to reduce the mean time for total drug release to only 3 min.

Conclusions

The knowledge acquired through this work might be very beneficial for future FDM applications in the field of immediate release tablets especially with respect to thermo-sensitive drugs.

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Abbreviations

API:

Active pharmaceutical ingredient

FDM:

Fused deposition modeling

HME:

Hot-melt extrusion

HPC:

Hydroxypropyl cellulose

PBS:

Phosphate buffer solution (according to USP)

PEG:

Polyethylene glycol

PEO:

Polyethylene oxide

PLA:

Polylactic acid

PVA:

Polyvinyl alcohol

PVP:

Polyvinylpyrrolidone

TEC:

Triethyl citrate

XRPD:

X-ray powder diffraction

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Pharmacy, Center of Drug Absorption and Transport, University of Greifswald, Felix-Hausdorff-Straße 3, 17487, Greifswald, Germany

    Wiebke Kempin, Vanessa Domsta, Werner Weitschies & Anne Seidlitz

  2. Economic geology and mineralogy, University of Greifswald, 17487, Greifswald, Germany

    Georg Grathoff

  3. Plant Oranienburg, Takeda GmbH, 16515, Oranienburg, Germany

    Iris Brecht & Beatrice Semmling

  4. Takeda Pharmaceuticals International AG Zürich, 8152, Glattpark, Switzerland

    Susan Tillmann

Authors
  1. Wiebke Kempin
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  2. Vanessa Domsta
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  3. Georg Grathoff
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  4. Iris Brecht
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  5. Beatrice Semmling
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  6. Susan Tillmann
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  7. Werner Weitschies
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  8. Anne Seidlitz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anne Seidlitz.

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Guest Editor: Dennis Douroumis

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Kempin, W., Domsta, V., Grathoff, G. et al. Immediate Release 3D-Printed Tablets Produced Via Fused Deposition Modeling of a Thermo-Sensitive Drug. Pharm Res 35, 124 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11095-018-2405-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11095-018-2405-6

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