3D-printed chewable gummy tablets: A new tool for oral amoxicillin administration in paediatric population

Amoxicillin is one of the most prescribed antibiotics in the paediatric population. Currently available formulations (i.e., suspensions and tablets) suffer from limited acceptability often responsible for the therapeutic failure. In the present study it is proposed an innovative formulation for amoxicillin oral administration that could meet acceptability requirements of the paediatric population. Chewable gummy tablets were produced by the Pressure-Assisted Microsyringe 3D printing technology. As "ink" it was used a gel obtained by the co-formulation of corn starch with acacia honey. The optimized formulation, having a final dose of 200 mg per unit, resulted visually appealing. Good accuracy between the computer-aided design and final 3D-printed product was evident as well. The fabricated gummy tablets (1.07 ± 0.05 g) showed acceptable mechanical properties such as hardness (150.52 ± 5.67 N), and gumminess (68.13 ± 6.51 N) when exposed to simulated salivary fluid. Moreover, the 3D-printed gummy tablets determined the almost complete release of the drug in the gastric environment within 2 h and assured its permeation through the PermeaPad® membranes. The obtained results suggest that 3D printing is a versatile and scalable technology useful in the pharmaceutical industry to fabricate customized chewable formulations as a suitable alternative to conventional formulations for amoxicillin administration in the paediatric population.