Expandable drug delivery system for gastric retention based on shape memory polymers: Development via 4D printing and extrusion

Publication date: Available online 14 September 2019Source: International Journal of PharmaceuticsAuthor(s): Alice Melocchi, Marco Uboldi, Nicoletta Inverardi, Francesco Briatico-Vangosa, Francesco Baldi, Stefano Pandini, Giulia Scalet, Ferdinando Auricchio, Matteo Cerea, Anastasia Foppoli, Alessandra Maroni, Lucia Zema, Andrea GazzanigaAbstractSeveral diseases would benefit from prolonged drug release provided by systems retained in the stomach for extended time periods. Expandable gastroretentive devices are administered in a collapsed configuration enabling swallowing and regain in situ their native shape having larger spatial encumbrance, thus hindering voidance through the wide open pylorus. An expandable system for gastric retention was here proposed relying on the shape memory behavior of pharmaceutical-grade poly(vinyl alcohol). Different original configurations to be recovered upon exposure to aqueous fluids at 37 °C, potentially enabling gastric retention, were conceived. Prototypes containing allopurinol were directly manufactured by fused deposition modeling or shaped by purposely-designed templates from hot melt extruded rods immediately after production. Various temporary shapes, in principle suitable for administration, were programmed by manual deformation of samples by means of specific templates, under defined temperature conditions. In 0.1 N hydrochloric solution at 37 °C, the prototypes recovered their original shape, reaching the desired spatial e...
Source: International Journal of Pharmaceutics - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: research