Abstract

Personalized medicine is an important treatment approach for diseases like cancer with high intrasubject variability. In this framework, printing is one of the most promising methods since it permits dose and geometry adjustment of the final product. With this study, a combination product consisting of anticancer (paclitaxel) and antiviral (cidofovir) drugs was manufactured by inkjet printing onto adhesive film for local treatment of cervical cancers as a result of HPV infection. Furthermore, solubility problem of paclitaxel was overcome by maintaining this poorly soluble drug in a cyclodextrin inclusion complex and release of cidofovir was controlled by encapsulation in polycaprolactone nanoparticles. In vitro characterization studies of printed film formulations were performed and cell culture studies showed that drug loaded film formulation was effective on human cervical adenocarcinoma cells.

Our study suggests that inkjet printing technology can be utilized in the development of antiviral/anticancer combination dosage forms for mucosal application. The drug amount in the delivery system can be accurately controlled and modified. Moreover, prolonged drug release time can be obtained. Printing of anticancer and antiviral drugs on film seem to be a potential approach for HPV-related cervical cancer treatment and a good candidate for further studies.

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