Romanian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences

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THE ROLE OF 3D PRINTING IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF DOSAGE FORMS WITH TAILORED DRUG RELEASE

ZORICA POTPARA 1, DJORDJE MEDAREVIĆ 2*, MIRJANA KRSTIĆ 3, SVETLANA IBRIĆ 2

1 University of Montenegro, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pharmacy, Ljubljanska bb, Podgorica, Montenegro
2 University of Belgrade, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Technology and Cosmetology, Vojvode Stepe 450, Belgrade, Serbia
3 Zdravlje AD, Leskovac, Serbia

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In recent years, there has been growing interest in the application of 3D printing technology in the production of drug delivery systems. The particular advantages of using 3D printing lie in the production of drug delivery systems with dose, appearance (size, shape, colour, etc.) and drug release pattern tailored to the characteristics of each patient. This enables more efficient therapy, improved patient compliance, reduced costs, and fewer side effects. Due to simple fabrication of very complex architectures, 3D printing offers far greater opportunities to achieve the desired drug release patterns compared to conventional methods of manufacturing dosage forms. Numerous studies describe the successful application of 3D printing in the development of drug delivery systems with different release patterns, from simple immediate and prolonged release to more complex multiphasic release systems and trigger-induced drug release systems. Tailored drug release from 3D-printed drugs can be achieved in two ways: by fabrication of dosage forms of appropriate design or fabrication of device that controls the release of drugs from inserted dosage form prepared by conventional techniques. This article provides a brief overview of different 3D printing approaches used in the development of dosage forms with tailored drug release.