Designing drug delivery systems through additive manufacturing

Abstract

Additive manufacturing, also called 3D-printing is an emerging technique for the formulation of drug dosage forms in pharmaceutical formulation. This approach is widely used for its benefits over conventional drug formulations. 3D printing is giving an enhancement to the customization of drugs. This technique is able to carry many different drugs in a single dosage form. Customization is also seen in conventional drug dosage forms, but 3D printing gives more precision as per pharmacological response desired for each individual patient. Moreover, the customisation process is simple and instant production is obtained. Physically incompatible drugs can be added to one drug dosage form by providing barriers of polymers, etc. Here, we have discussed some of the tablets, capsules, transdermal patches, suppositories fabricated by 3D printing by researchers. Different types of techniques under 3D printing have also been discussed which are being used in fabricating the above-mentioned drug dosage forms. 3D printing is being considered in the pharmaceutical field due to its advantages of easy operation, the fewest possible steps, lower labour costs and many other factors. This technique shows the benefits of 3D printing of various desirable drugs.   Keywords: 3-D Printing, Polymer, Dosage form, Customization, Capsule, Transdermal patches, suppositories.  Abbreviations: HCl- Hydrochloric acid, FDM- Fused Deposition Modelling, FDA- Food and Drug administration, CADD- Computer aided drug design, API- Active pharmaceutical agent, SLA- Stereolithography, SLS- selective laser sintering, 3D- Three dimensional