For the development of this directly compressible excipient no chemical modification was applied. The enhanced functionality enabling a nearly zero order release was achieved by techniques such as physical mixing, high shear mixer granulation and spray drying.
The potential for use of polymers in controlled drug delivery systems has been long recognized. Since their appearance in the literature, a wide range of degradable and non-degradable polymers have been demonstrated in drug delivery devices.
3D printing has been recently employed in the design and fabrication of medicine, aiming to improve their properties and release behavior. In the current work an oral solid dosage form was designed by Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), using a custom built filament comprised of a water soluble polymer polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), mannitol and hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) as model drug and further co-formulated via Hot-Melt Extrusion (HME).