CAPSULAR DEVICES FOR ORAL MODIFIED RELEASE OF DRUGS PREPARED BY INJECTION MOLDING

The research project was focused on the development of a pulsatile capsular-shaped drug delivery system (DDS) named Chronocap™. It consists of a capsule shell, made of hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC), prepared by injection molding (IM); it is intended to be filled with different types of drug preparations and to delay their liberation after oral administration. Such devices prepared by means of a prototype mold were demonstrated able to convey drug preparations giving rise to the expected pulsatile release performance, confirmed by in vivo data. The PhD project was undertaken aiming at improving the robustness and versatility of the Chronocap™ device as well as enhancing the industrial scalability of its manufacturing process. For this purpose, two different tasks were pointed out: the improvement of the manufacturing process and of the technological characteristics of capsules on the one side, and the upgrade of applications of the device on the other. In this respect, the modulation of the lag phase of the capsular device and its possible exploitation in the design of a colon DDS were approached.