Design and development of zero-order drug release gastroretentive floating tablets fabricated by 3D printing technology

Abstract Three dimensional printing technologies are widely used in medical applications, reflecting the ease of customization and personalization. Hence, applications of 3D printing in pharmaceutical manufacturing may provide variety and complexity of pharmaceutical dosage forms that conventional methods do not. 3D printing can be used to produce individualized drug and dosage forms for future therapeutic application. Herein, we developed a pharmaceutical formulation in the form of a floating controlled drug-release tablet loaded with a metronidazole core using 3D printing. The floating shell or tablet housing was prepared from polyvinylalcohol. Initially, shapes of tablet floating housings were designed and printed in cylinder, sphere and cone shapes. Metronidazole tablet cores were then prepared by direct compression and were assembled into the printed tablet housing. We then examined the effects of shapes of the floating tablet housing, pole sizes for drug release and air volumes for floating. Cylindrical floating tablet housings floated stably at the surface of water. These tablets also floated immediately and for more than 4 h, and drug release was more than 88% after 8 h. Floating tablets with a pore sizes of 2.0 mm and air volumes of 132 mm3 provided zero-order drug release in kinetic investigations, with an r2 value of 0.9661.