Production of Drug Delivery Systems Using Fused Filament Fabrication: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printing technology is widely used in many fields. For almost a decade, medical researchers have been exploring the potential use of this technology for improving the healthcare sector. Advances in personalized medicine have been more achievable due to the applicability of producing drug delivery devices, which are explicitly designed based on patients’ needs. For the production of these devices, a filament—which is the feedstock for the FFF 3D printer—consists of a carrier polymer (or polymers) and a loaded active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). This systematic review of the literature investigates the most widely used approaches for producing drug-loaded filaments. It also focusses on several factors, such as the polymeric carrier and the drug, loading capacity and homogeneity, processing conditions, and the intended applications. This review concludes that the filament preparation method has a significant effect on both the drug homogeneity within the polymeric carrier and drug loading efficiency.

3D-Printed Drug Delivery Systems: The Effects of Drug Incorporation Methods on Their Release and Antibacterial Efficiency

“…Additionally, many methods have been used for drug incorporation into the carrier polymer. One of these methods is powder mixing of polymer and API [7]. As was mentioned before, the use of moderate particle sizes ranging from 250 to 600 µm should provide a homogeneous distribution of the drug in the polymer matrix [22].…”

“…Moreover, with this configuration a challenge arises, which is to achieve a homogenous mixture between the carrier polymer and the API, especially when the latter is much lower in volume or there is a large difference in size, such as pellets, chips, or powders. As there are countless approaches for pre-mixing the polymer and the drug, it was noticed that a standardized method for the loading of an API into a carrier polymer for 3D printing purposes is not available [7].…”

3D Printing as a Promising Tool in Personalized Medicine

“…This process uses a screw-based extrusion system in a barrel, which is driven by a motor and uses heat and pressure to melt the mixture, which is then left to cool down. This mixture then hardens to produce the filament which is to be used as the feed for FDM ( 56 , 57 ). The wide use of FDM in pharmaceuticals is attributed to its cost-effectiveness, printing accuracy, guaranteed quality parameters and the incorporation of HME ( 58 ).…”

Additive Manufacturing of Oral Tablets: Technologies, Materials and Printed Tablets

“…It is also possible to incorporate the API directly into the 3D-printed tablets by immersing the tablet into an API solution/suspension (Figure 2c) [96]. Both of the immersion approaches (filament or tablet) are usually time-consuming, require an additional drying process, and allow diffusion of a limited amount of drug [145]. On the other hand, HME allows precise and homogenous incorporation of the API into the filament [146].…”