Customisable Tablet Printing: The Development of Multimaterial Hot Melt Inkjet 3D Printing to Produce Complex and Personalised Dosage Forms

Area of Science:

• Pharmaceutical technology
• Additive manufacturing
• Materials science

Background:

• 3D printing offers advanced capabilities for creating complex pharmaceutical dosage forms.
• Multi-material printing allows for tailored drug loading, precise dosing, and controlled release profiles.
• Current methods often require time-consuming ink exchanges and post-processing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and demonstrate a novel dual material hot-melt inkjet 3D printing system for pharmaceutical applications.
• To showcase the potential for solvent-free, multi-material printing of personalized dosage forms.
• To investigate the use of Compritol HD5 ATO as a printable pharmaceutical lipid for controlled drug release.

Main Methods:

• Development of a dual material hot-melt inkjet 3D printing system.
• Preparation of drug-free and drug-loaded inks using Compritol HD5 ATO (matrix) and Fenofibrate (drug) at varying concentrations (5-30% w/w).
• Fabrication of single and multi-material 3D printed constructs with localized drug loading and drug-free barrier layers.

Main Results:

• The developed system enabled precise, solvent-free, multi-material inkjet printing.
• Printed constructs exhibited desired physical properties and demonstrated immediate, extended, delayed, and pulsatile drug release profiles.
• Compritol HD5 ATO was successfully printed as a single or drug-loaded ink material without solvents.

Conclusions:

• Dual material hot-melt inkjet 3D printing is a viable technology for producing personalized solid dosage forms.
• This technology facilitates tailored drug release by controlling drug localization within complex 3D structures.
• The use of Compritol HD5 ATO in this printing method opens new avenues for advanced pharmaceutical formulations.