Plastics & Rubber World - September/October 2019 - 6

news

MEDICINE

AIT team uses biocompatible polymers
in new polypharmacy application
Athlone, Ireland - The Athlone Institute of Technology's
Materials Research Institute
has revealed a new breakthrough to support polypharmacy. This is where a patient is
required to take multiple medications over an extended period of time.
Remembering to take the
medicines, in the correct timeframe and dosage, can be overwhelming for many patients.
This leads to an estimated
medication course completion
rate of between 50 and 70%.
The solution is to use additive-printed biocompatible and
biodegradable plastics for a
medicine delivery unit which
can be taken orally or sub-dermally.
It has taken three years to
perfect the tablet printing technology. PhD candidate Evert
Fuenmayor, who developed
the system with Dr. Ian Major,
explained more.
"We blended and melted the
material, made it into a filament
and fed it into the printer. Depending on which settings we
selected, we were able to get
entirely different drug profiles.
With as little as two clicks, I could
make it so that the tablet could
last three days in the body or
six hours. It just depends on the
needs of the patient."

Evert Fuenmayor shows a pill produced by the team at AIT's Materials Research Institute
The next phase of research
involved development of a
bi-layer tablet to support the
delivery of multiple drugs. This
also saw the use of more clinically-relevant drugs, such as
Lovastatin and Hydrochlorothiazide. These are prescribed for
metabolic syndromes, such as
cardiovascular diseases, high
blood pressure and controlling

cholesterol levels.
A doctor can tailor the pills
to the patient based on their
genetic profile. This also helps
with determining dosages and
drug efficacy.
"Pharmacists will be able to
make up the drug profile there
and then, based on a patient's
unique needs. With the right
drug-loaded polymers in stock

and a small 3D printer, they'd
be able to print your tablets in
the pharmacy," explained Evert.
To address slow turnaround
times - the system can currently produce about 30 pills in
four hours - the team is working on a mass-customisation
approach, combining injection
moulding and 3D printing to
deliver a higher output rate.

BUSINESS

Plastic plant fails to get go ahead from Irish High Court
Dublin, Ireland - Campaigners behind the Save our Skibbereen (SOS) group have welcomed the decision by the Irish
High Court to quash planning
permission for a new plastics
plant in the area.
As reported by PRW earlier
this year, Minnesota-based RTP
Company had been planning to
construct a new plastics plant
near Skibbereen, County Cork.
Former mayor Brendan
McCarthy started SOS to campaign against the plant, alleging
that planning permission had

Skibbereen is situated in an area of natural beauty

WWW.PRW.COM | september/october 2019

been awarded by An Bord Pleanala (the national building commission) before the necessary
environmental impact assessments. Of particular concern was
the impact on three nearby Natura special areas of conservation.
The result of the appeal
leaves the plant in limbo. It is
believed that it could take up to
18 months for the reports concerning impact on Natura sites
to be drawn up. The campaigners hope that this setback will
see RTP drop their plans for the
new plant.

http://WWW.PRW.COM

Plastics & Rubber World - September/October 2019

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