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

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 degrees C) owing to the used model drug pantoprazole sodium. Methods Five different pharmaceutical grade polymers polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP K12), polyethylene glycol 6000 (PEG 6000), Kollidon (R) VA64, polyethylene glycol 20,000 (PEG 20,000) and poloxamer 407 were successfully hot-meltextruded 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.