Manufacturing the release profile, not only the dose
Earlier Brinter-enabled pharmaceutical research demonstrated that semi-solid extrusion could manufacture tailored dosage forms. In 2025, the research line advanced toward controlling how the medicine functions after manufacturing: release timing, release rate and dosage architecture became design variables in the additive manufacturing workflow.
Dual-release veterinary tablets on Brinter 1
Researchers at Åbo Akademi University used the Brinter 1 platform to manufacture metoclopramide tablets with separate immediate-release and extended-release layers. Two formulations were processed through different pneumatic tool heads, allowing the same printed dosage form to combine rapid onset with sustained release and to be dimensioned for different-sized animal patients.
- Brinter 1 semi-solid extrusion platform.
- Two formulations and two pneumatic extrusion tool heads.
- Immediate-release and extended-release layers in one dosage form.
- Geometry adapted to targeted doses for different patient sizes.
- A manufacturing route toward once-daily personalised veterinary medication.
Toward long-term controlled release
A separate 2025 study investigated polymer-microsphere inks and semi-solid extrusion for long-term macromolecule release. Printed structures were post-processed to tailor porosity, and the resulting systems were evaluated over three months. By changing ink composition and processing conditions, the researchers could accelerate, slow, delay or prevent release, demonstrating how material formulation, geometry and post-processing can jointly define pharmaceutical performance.
A broader manufacturing principle
These studies illustrate a key transition in additive pharmaceutical manufacturing: the printed object is not merely a customised shape carrying a drug. The manufacturing process itself can encode dose, release kinetics and treatment behaviour. That same principle — integrating material, geometry, process and function — is central to advanced application-specific manufacturing.