Towards a Customized Oral Drug Therapy for Pediatric Applications: Chewable Propranolol Gel Tablets Printed by an Automated Extrusion-Based Material Deposition Method

<b>Background:</b> Automated semi-solid extrusion (SSE) material deposition is a promising new technology for preparing personalized medicines for different patient groups and veterinary applications. The technology enables the preparation of custom-made oral elastic gel tablets of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) by using a semi-solid polymeric printing ink. <b>Methods</b>: An automated SSE material deposition method was used for generating chewable gel tablets loaded with propranolol hydrochloride (-HCl) at three different API content levels (3.0 mg, 4.0 mg, 5.0 mg). The physical appearance, surface morphology, dimensions, mass and mass variation, process-derived solid-state changes, mechanical properties, and in-vitro drug release of the gel tablets were studied. <b>Results</b>: The inclusion of API (1% <i>w</i>/<i>w</i>) in the semi-solid CuraBlend^TM printing mixture decreased viscosity and increased fluidity, thus promoting the spreading of the mixture on the printed (material deposition) bed and the printing performance of the gel tablets. The printed gel tablets were elastic, soft, jelly-like, chewable preparations. The mechanical properties of the gel tablets were dependent on the printing ink composition (i.e., with or without propranolol HCl). The maximum load for the final deformation of the CuraBlend™-API (3.0 mg) gel tablets was very uniform, ranging from 73 N to 80 N. The in-vitro dissolution test showed that more than 85% of the drug load was released within 15-20 min, thus verifying the immediate-release behavior of these drug preparations. <b>Conclusions</b>: Automated SSE material deposition as a modified 3D printing method is a feasible technology for preparing customized oral chewable gel tablets of propranolol HCl.