3D Printed Intragastric Floating and Sustained-Release Tablets with Air Chambers

Area of Science:

• Pharmaceutical Technology
• Drug Delivery Systems
• Additive Manufacturing

Background:

• Intragastric floating drug delivery systems enhance drug efficacy by prolonging gastric residence time.
• Traditional manufacturing methods face limitations in creating complex geometries for controlled drug release.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel intragastric floating and sustained-release drug delivery system using hot-melt extrusion (HME) and fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing.
• To engineer a tablet with an air chamber for buoyancy and an adjustable drug release window for controlled release kinetics.

Main Methods:

• Utilized HME to create drug-loaded filaments with hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC).
• Employed FDM 3D printing to fabricate tablets with a polylactic acid (PLA) insoluble shell, incorporating an air chamber and variable-sized drug release windows.
• Conducted pharmaceutical characterization, solid dispersion evaluation, and in vitro drug release studies.

Main Results:

• 3D printed tablets exhibited immediate and continuous buoyancy due to the air chamber, with density below 0.9 g/cm³.
• Drug release rate was directly proportional to the release window area.
• Tablets with a 4.5 mm release window demonstrated near zero-order release for 24 hours via a diffusion-erosion mechanism.

Conclusions:

• The developed 3D printed intragastric floating tablets with air chambers offer a promising platform for sustained drug delivery.
• This technology enables personalized drug delivery systems with tunable release profiles.
• The system's design facilitates prolonged gastric residence and controlled drug release, applicable to various drugs.