Predicting pharmaceutical inkjet printing outcomes using machine learning

• Published in: International journal of pharmaceutics: X 2023-12, Vol.5, p.100181, Article 100181
• Main Authors: Carou-Senra, Paola, Ong, Jun Jie, Castro, Brais Muñiz, Seoane-Viaño, Iria, Rodríguez-Pombo, Lucía, Cabalar, Pedro, Alvarez-Lorenzo, Carmen, Basit, Abdul W., Pérez, Gilberto, Goyanes, Alvaro
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 2D and 3D printed drug products; Additive manufacturing and personalized medications; Artificial intelligence and digital health; Design and fabrication of medicinal products; Desktop ink jet printing of pharmaceuticals and drug delivery systems; Rational formulation development; Special Issue on Interreg project “Site-Specific Drug Delivery”
• ISSN: 2590-1567; 2590-1567
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpx.2023.100181

Inkjet printing has been extensively explored in recent years to produce personalised medicines due to its low cost and versatility. Pharmaceutical applications have ranged from orodispersible films to complex polydrug implants. However, the multi-factorial nature of the inkjet printing process makes formulation (e.g., composition, surface tension, and viscosity) and printing parameter optimization (e.g., nozzle diameter, peak voltage, and drop spacing) an empirical and time-consuming endeavour. Instead, given the wealth of publicly available data on pharmaceutical inkjet printing, there is potential for a predictive model for inkjet printing outcomes to be developed. In this study, machine learning (ML) models (random forest, multilayer perceptron, and support vector machine) to predict printability and drug dose were developed using a dataset of 687 formulations, consolidated from in-house and literature-mined data on inkjet-printed formulations. The optimized ML models predicted the printability of formulations with an accuracy of 97.22%, and predicted the quality of the prints with an accuracy of 97.14%. This study demonstrates that ML models can feasibly provide predictive insights to inkjet printing outcomes prior to formulation preparation, affording resource- and time-savings. [Display omitted]