Photocurable Bioink for the Inkjet 3D Pharming of Hydrophilic Drugs

Giovanny F Acosta-Vélez; Chase S Linsley; Madison C Craig; Benjamin M Wu

doi:10.3390/bioengineering4010011

Photocurable Bioink for the Inkjet 3D Pharming of Hydrophilic Drugs

Bioengineering (Basel). 2017 Jan 28;4(1):11. doi: 10.3390/bioengineering4010011.

Authors

Giovanny F Acosta-Vélez¹, Chase S Linsley², Madison C Craig³, Benjamin M Wu^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, 420 Westwood Plaza, Room 5531, Boelter Hall, P.O. Box: 951592, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1592, USA. gacosta3@g.ucla.edu.
² Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles, 420 Westwood Plaza, Room 5121, Engineering V, P.O. Box: 951600, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. clinsle@g.ucla.edu.
³ Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles, 420 Westwood Plaza, Room 5121, Engineering V, P.O. Box: 951600, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. mcraig914@ucla.edu.
⁴ Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles, 420 Westwood Plaza, Room 5121, Engineering V, P.O. Box: 951600, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. benwu@g.ucla.edu.
⁵ Division of Advanced Prosthodontics and the Weintraub Center for Reconstructive Biotechnology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. benwu@g.ucla.edu.

Abstract

Novel strategies are required to manufacture customized oral solid dosage forms for personalized medicine applications. 3D Pharming, the direct printing of pharmaceutical tablets, is an attractive strategy, since it allows for the rapid production of solid dosage forms containing custom drug dosages. This study reports on the design and characterization of a biocompatible photocurable pharmaceutical polymer for inkjet 3D printing that is suitable for hydrophilic active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). Specifically, hyaluronic acid was functionalized with norbornene moieties that, in the presence of poly(ethylene) glycol dithiol, Eosin Y as a photoinitiator, and a visible light source, undergoes a rapid step-growth polymerization reaction through thiol-ene chemistry. The engineered bioink was loaded with Ropinirole HCL, dispensed through a piezoelectric nozzle onto a blank preform tablet, and polymerized. Drug release analysis of the tablet resulted in 60% release within 15 min of tablet dissolution. The study confirms the potential of inkjet printing for the rapid production of tablets through the deposition of a photocurable bioink designed for hydrophilic APIs.

Keywords: 3D printing; Ropinirole; hyaluronic acid; inkjet printing; norbornene; pharmaceutical tablets.