Reactive Prodrug Strategy for Additive Manufactured Controlled Release Devices

Additive manufacturing technology holds significant promise in the pharmaceutical industry due to its flexibility and precision. Specifically, light-curing-based techniques like inkjet 3-D printing (IJ3DP), stereolithography (SLA), and digital light processing (DLP) offer high printing precision and are solvent-free. This enables the creation of complex drug dosage forms without concerns about solvent toxicity. Controlled-release dosage forms are increasingly favored for their improved patient compliance and reduced side effects. This study focuses on designing controlled-release dosage forms using these technologies, employing a prodrug strategy where drug molecules are bound to light-cured carriers via cleavable covalent bonds. The release rate is controlled by these bonds and the surrounding environment. Prodrugs suitable for light-cured additive manufacturing were successfully synthesised, including various drugs and cleavable covalent bonds. With the addition of photoinitiators, these prodrugs can be cured faster and have a high conversion rate under UV light irradiation. The cured drug-containing castings have different mechanical properties. These findings suggest diverse applications for drug-containing materials produced through this method.