Additive manufacturing of solid formulations customized for oral administration in preclinical applications

Anna Giulia Balducci – Early Pharmaceutics Principal Scientist, Chiesi Pharmaceutics; Alessandro Fioni – Head of In Life Models & Technology Science, Chiesi Pharmaceutics; Giulia Marenghi – In Life Models &Technology Scientist, Chiesi Pharmaceutics; Alessandra Rossi – Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Technology, University of Parma

Introduction:

Preclinical drug discovery stages face intrinsic challenges, especially scarce new molecular entities availability and rodents‑specific dosage forms with dimensional constraints¹. Moreover, traditional preclinical formulations could be time and material consuming and may be subjected to drug-release limitations². 3D printing offers a versatile strategy to tailor geometry, drug loading and release kinetics for preclinical studies³. In this project additive manufacturing was employed to prepare preclinical oral solid dosage form of caffeine with a sustained release in acidic environment.