Nanocrystals for the oral route using 3D printing technology

LOPEZ VIDAL, LUCIA; REAL J.P; REAL DA; CAMACHO N; PAREDES A; PALMA SD

Congreso; 6ta Reunión Internacional de Ciencias Farmacéuticas (RICiFa 2020+1); 2021

Drug nanocrystals (NCs) are a valuable technology for solving problems related to insoluble drug formulation, increasing efficacy and reducing adverse reactions. However, NCs are difficult to incorporate into oral solid dosage forms (OSDF). The aim of this work was to apply a specific 3D printing method (MESO-PP) to vehicleize NCs into OSDF. Using Albendazole (ABZ), Poloxamer 188 as stabilizer and a combination of bead-milling and spray-drying, we prepared ABZ-NC. Laboratory 3d-printer and a 45% PEG1500, 5% propylene glycol and 50% of ABZ-NC ink were used to obtain 3D-printed tablets (3DT). ABZ-NC loaded in 3DT were characterized in terms of size and polydispersity index (PDI). Physicochemical properties were evaluated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR). Measured by DLS, XRD and FTIR were repeated after 180 days. The dissolution profiles were analyzed by similarity factor (f2). 3DT loaded with 455nm sized ABZ-NC (PDI of 0.256) were obtained. The average weight of the 3DTs was 349±9mg. DSC, XRD and FT-IR analyses demonstrated that ABZ remained physicochemically unchanged after the process. Stability of NCs in the ink was demonstrated for 180 days. 3DT exhibited improved in vitro biopharmaceutical behaviour when compared to ABZ-NCs placed in hard gelatin capsules(f2=31). As observed, MESO-PP represents a promising strategy to vehicleize NCs into OSDF.