3D printing of dose-flexible crystalline solid dispersion tablets suitable for preclinical and first-in-human studies

Traditional extemporaneous compounding methods of solid oral dosage forms required in early-stage studies are laborious, and the drug's solid state may affect the biopharmaceutical performance of the medicine. Maintaining the intended drug form in all stages of drug product development is critical. In this study, we evaluated the potential of Semi-solid extrusion (SSE) 3D printing to maintain a crystalline solid dispersion and automate small-batch tablet production suitable for preclinical and first-in-human (FIH) studies using high-solubility acetaminophen and low-solubility celecoxib as model compounds. Two drug-loaded pharma-inks were developed for each drug, containing 0.22 % w/w and 23 % w/w acetaminophen, and 0.2 % w/w and 30 % w/w celecoxib, respectively. Dose-flexible tablets were printed by SSE 3D printing at room temperature, covering a wide range of acetaminophen doses (0.5 mg, 150 mg, and 250 mg), and celecoxib doses (0.5 mg, 100 mg, and 200 mg) from the low or high drug-loaded pharma-inks, respectively. In vitro drug release confirmed the immediate release properties of the tablets. X-ray diffraction and DSC of the tablets confirmed crystalline acetaminophen and celecoxib dispersions post-printing. This work demonstrates that SSE 3D printing technology can be employed as a straightforward and cost-effective method to rapidly manufacture small batches of dose-flexible oral solid dosage forms on demand, suitable for early-stage studies, while maintaining API crystallinity and providing flexible dosing.