Development of an immediate release excipient composition for 3D printing via direct powder extrusion in a hospital.

3D printing offers the possibility to prepare personalized tablets on demand, making it an intriguing technology for hospital pharmacies. For the implementation of 3D-printed tablets into the digital Closed Loop Medication Management system, the required tablet formulation and development of the manufacturing process as well as the pharmaceutical validation were conducted. The goal of the formulation development was to enable an optimal printing process and rapid dissolution of the printed tablets for the selected model drugs Levodopa/Carbidopa. The 3D printed tablets were prepared by direct powder extrusion. Printability, thermal properties, disintegration, dissolution, physical properties and storage stability were investigated by employing analytical methods such as HPLC-UV, DSC and TGA. The developed formulation shows a high dose accuracy and an immediate drug release for Levodopa. In addition, the tablets exhibit high crushing strength and very low friability. Unfortunately, Carbidopa did not tolerate the printing process. This is the first study to develop an immediate release excipient composition via direct powder extrusion in a hospital pharmacy setting. The developed process is suitable for the implementation in Closed-Loop Medication Management systems in hospital pharmacies and could therefore contribute to medication safety.

A Unified Data Architecture for Assessing Motor Symptoms in Parkinson's Disease.

INTRODUCTION: The diagnosis and treatment of Parkinson's disease depend on the assessment of motor symptoms. Wearables and machine learning algorithms have emerged to collect large amounts of data and potentially support clinicians in clinical and ambulant settings. STATE OF THE ART: However, a systematical and reusable data architecture for storage, processing, and analysis of inertial sensor data is not available. Consequently, datasets vary significantly between studies and prevent comparability. CONCEPT: To simplify research on the neurodegenerative disorder, we propose an efficient and real-time-optimized architecture compatible with HL7 FHIR backed by a relational database schema. LESSONS LEARNED: We can verify the adequate performance of the system on an experimental benchmark and in a clinical experiment. However, existing standards need to be further optimized to be fully sufficient for data with high temporal resolution.

Mucoadhesive buccal films based on a graft co-polymer - A mucin-retentive hydrogel scaffold.

From a patient-centric perspective, oromucosal drug delivery is highly attractive due to the ease of administration without the need of swallowing, and improved patient safety. The aim of the presented work was to prepare a buccal film using a self-forming micellar drug solubiliser as the film matrix, combining it with a mucoadhesive polymer for an enhanced retention on the buccal mucosa. Specifically, we propose the use of a graft co-polymer (Soluplus®), as a solubiliser and film former, supplemented with polymers with more hydrophilic properties and known mucoadhesive properties; hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) or modified hydroxypropyl pea starch (Lycoat®). The film was manufactured by the solvent casting method. The resulting dual polymer film containing HPMC exhibited resistance to erosion and mucoadhesive properties superior to the control films of single polymers. In an in vitro oral cavity model, these properties were shown to correlate with increased residence time on simulated oral mucosa. Furthermore, all films containing the graft co-polymer showed similar permeability characteristics of furosemide towards buccal TR146 epithelial cells. This work illustrated that it is possible to manufacture dry, solid, dual polymer films containing an advanced drug delivery system with a cheap and simple method. The combination of a graft co-polymer with a mucoadhesive polymer transform into drug solubilising micelles in a mucin-retentive hydrogel scaffold with longer retention time on buccal mucosa for safe and enhanced advanced formulation.