Coating of primary powder particles improves the quality of binder jetting 3D printed oral solid products
Binder jetting (BJ) 3D printing is especially suitable for fabrication of an orodispersible solid dosage form, as it is an efficient way to avoid the use of mechanical forces typical for compaction-based processes. However, one of the existing challenges related to pharmaceutical applications of BJ is the relatively high amount of a binder needed in the primary powder to ensure the sufficient mechanical strength of printed products.
In this study, a strategy based on pre-processing with a thin layer coating was explored. With this strategy, the matrix particles (lactose monohydrate) of the primary powder for BJ 3D printing were coated with the binder (polyvinylpyrrolidone, PVP). The investigated compositions of the primary powder contained PVP at three levels, namely 10 %, 15% and 20% (w/w). The primary powder compositions were prepared with or without the coated lactose powder, and they were subsequently 3D BJ printed into oral solid products with paracetamol as a model active drug substance.
The presence of the coated lactose in the primary powder increased the interparticulate interactions in the BJ 3D printed products. Especially for the composition with a relatively small amount of binder (i.e., 10% and 15% w/w PVP in the primary powder), the use of coated particles significantly improved the resistance to crushing and decreased the disintegration time of printed products. In conclusion, thin layer coating is an effective way to pre-process primary powder particles for BJ 3D printing of oral solid products.
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Materials
Spherical lactose monohydrate SuperTab® 11SD (referred as lactose powder) was a donation from DFE Pharma (Goch, Germany), and Kollidon® 30 (referred as PVP powder) was purchased from BASF Corporation (Ludwigshafen, Germany). PCM (particle size below 180 µm) was from Fagron A/S (Copenhagen, Denmark). The reagents used in this study were high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) grade acetonitrile (ACN) from VWR Chemicals (Radnor, PA, US) and purified water by Ultra Clear™ reverse osmosis system from Evoqua Water Technologies (Barsbüttel, Germany).
Yingya Wang, Natalja Genina, Anette Müllertz, Jukka Rantanen, Coating of primary powder particles improves the quality of binder jetting 3D printed oral solid products, Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2022, ISSN 0022-3549,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xphs.2022.08.030.