Manipulating drug release from 3D printed dual-drug loaded polypills using challenging polymer compositions

McDonagh, Thomas ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0358-6348, Belton, Peter and Qi, Sheng ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1872-9572 (2023) Manipulating drug release from 3D printed dual-drug loaded polypills using challenging polymer compositions. International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 637. ISSN 0378-5173

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Abstract

Combining multiple medications in a single dosage form has emerged as an important strategy for treating complex diseases and could help tackle the growing issue of polypharmacy. In this study we investigated the suitability of different dual-drug designs for achieving simultaneous, delayed and pulsatile drug release regimes using two model formulations: an immediate release erodible system of Eudragit E PO loaded with paracetamol; and an erodible swellable system of Soluplus loaded with felodipine. Both binary formulations, despite not fused deposition modelling (FDM) printable, were successfully printed using a thermal droplet-based 3D printing method, Arburg Plastic Freeforming (APF), and exhibited good reproducibility. X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) were used to assess drug-excipient interaction. The printed tablets were evaluated for drug release using in vitro dissolution testing. We found the simultaneous and delayed release designs were effective at generating the intended drug release profiles, giving insight into the types of dual-drug designs which can be used to create complex release profiles. In contrast the pulsatile tablet release was non-defined, highlighting the design limitations when using erodible materials.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Acknowledgement: We would like to thank the Enabling Innovation: Research to Application (EIRA), a Research England Connecting Capability Fund (CCF) project for providing the funding for the study. Additional thanks to Arburg for their Freeformer training and material qualification insight as well as PCE Automation for their technical support. Data availability: Data will be made available on request.
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Science > School of Pharmacy
Faculty of Science > School of Chemistry
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Pharmaceutical Materials and Soft Matter
Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 03 Apr 2023 09:30
Last Modified: 03 Apr 2023 09:30
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/91707
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2023.122895

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