A floating 3D printed polypill formulation for the coadministration and sustained release of antihypertensive drugs

Polypharmacy is a common issue, especially among elderly patients resulting in administration errors and patient inconvenience. Hypertension is a prevalent health condition that frequently leads to polypharmacy, as its treatment typically requires the co-administration of more than one different Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API's). To address these issues, floating hollow torus-shaped dosage forms were developed, aiming at providing prolonged gastric retention and sustained drug release. The dosage forms (polypills) containing three anti-hypertensive API's (diltiazem (DIL), propranolol (PRP) and hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ)) were created via Fused Deposition Modelling 3D printing. A multitude of the dosage forms were loaded into a capsule and the resulting formulation achieved prolonged retention times over a 12-hour period in vitro, by leveraging both the buoyancy of the dosage forms, and the "cheerios effect" that facilitates the aggregation and retention of the dosage forms via a combination of surface tension and shape of the objects. Physicochemical characterization methods and imaging techniques were employed to investigate the properties and the internal and external structure of the dosage forms. Furthermore, an ex vivo porcine stomach model revealed substantial aggregation, adhesion and retention of the 3D printed dosage forms in porcine stomach. In vitro dissolution testing demonstrated almost complete first-order release of PRP and DIL (93.52 % and 99.9 %, respectively) and partial release of HCTZ (65.22 %) in the 12 h timeframe. Finally, a convolution-based single-stage approach was employed in order to predict the pharmacokinetic (PK) parameters of the API's of the formulation and the resemblance of their PK behavior with previously reported data.

Cheerios Effect Inspired Microbubbles as Suspended and Adhered Oral Delivery Systems

Oral drug administration has an important role in medical treatment. Attempts to develop drug microcarriers with desired features for extended duration and improved absorption is highly sought. Herein, inspired by the physical phenomenon of the Cheerios effect, a novel microfluidic electrospray microbubble carrier is presented that can suspend and actively adhere to the stomach for durable oral delivery. Compared with conventional fabrication methods, the present strategy shows stability and controllability of the product. Benefiting from their uniform hollow structure, the resultant microbubbles present the same behavior of the Cheerios and can float in the gastric juice, adhere and remain to the stomach wall, which thus enhance the duration and absorption of the loaded drugs. Based on these, it is demonstrated as a proof of concept that the dexamethasone-loaded hollow microbubbles can be applied to oral administration and remain suspended and adhered to the stomach of murine for more than 1 d, showing good therapeutic effect in treating lupus erythematosus. Thus, it is believed that the microbubbles floating system will find important values in long-term oral administration.