Effect of Solublising Aids on the Entrapment of Loratidine in Pre-Fabricated PVA Filaments used for FDM Based 3D-Printing

Low drug loading efficiency is the limiting factor in the use of pre-fabricated filaments for 3D printing of pharmaceuticals. The aim of the present study was to modify the material properties of pre-fabricated filament by incorporating suitable solubilizing aids in order to enhance the drug loading efficiency.

Loratadine was loaded into PVA filaments by using solubilizers (SoluplusÆ, Sodium lauryl sulfate) and plasticizers (glycerin and Polyethylene glycol-400) and the printability of filaments was investigated. The treated filaments were characterized for morphology and diameter changes, drug content, FTIR and thermal properties and printed into tablets of suitable dimensions. The printed tablets were also characterized for drug assay and drug release. The results have shown that the surface of different drug-loaded filaments becomes rough with almost no change in diameter hence, these filaments remained printable.

However, there was 7 to 24 times enhancement in drug content of treated filaments with particularly those pretreated with glycerin and soaked in drug solution containing Soluplus. The printed tablets have also shown almost similar drug content as their precursor filaments and the release followed diffusion mechanism in most of the formulations. The study concludes that the treatment of PVA filament with solubilizer aids has significantly improved drug loading without compromising the printability.