Recent developments in micro- and nanofabrication techniques for the preparation of amorphous pharmaceutical dosage forms

Abstract

Nano- and microfabrication techniques have been widely explored in the textile, polymer and biomedical arenas, although more recently these systems have attracted considerable interest as drug delivery vehicles with concomitant considerations of physical characterization, scalability, stability and drug release. In this review, the current thinking with regards to the manufacture of solid amorphous pharmaceutical materials using electrohydrodynamic and gyration-based approaches, melt-spinning approaches, thermal moulding, inkjet printing and 3D printing will be examined in the context of their potential and actual viability as dosage forms. A series of practical examples will be discussed as to how these approaches have been used as means of producing drug delivery systems for a range of delivery systems and treatments.

Keywords: 3D extrusion-based printing; Electrospinning; Electrospraying; Inkject printing; Micro- and Nano-fabrication; Pressure gyration; Thermal moudling.