3D Printing of Progesterone-Loaded Intrauterine System Using Vat Photopolymerisation

Abstract

Three-dimensional printing (3DP) provides the opportunity to personalise different dosage forms and therapeutic regimen where conventional manufacturing processes might not be applicable. Limited work has been done to investigate using 3DP for personalising hormonal intrauterine systems (IUSs). The aim of this work was to prepare 3DP IUS containing progesterone using vat photopolymerisation (VPP)technique. The device was successfully printed and showed a slow release in phosphate buffer (pH 7.4). VPP has the advantages of better printing resolution producing smoother surfaces, and the elimination of the pre-printing process of hot melt extrusion (HME) needed for fused deposition modelling (FDM) method. To the author’s knowledge, this is the first report of using VPP for printing hormone-loaded IUSs.

Keywords

• women's health
• contraceptive
• hormone replacement
• drug delivery device