{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,20]],"date-time":"2026-05-20T03:20:45Z","timestamp":1779247245639,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,29]],"date-time":"2026-01-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769644800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Small Scale Systems Integration and Packaging (S3IP) Center of Excellence"},{"name":"New York Empire State Development\u2019s Division of Science, Technology, and Innovation"},{"name":"School of Pharmacy at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences"},{"name":"Massachusetts Life Sciences Center\u2014Capital Grant"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Materials"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Conventional gelatin capsules deliver a rapid drug release in the stomach, which is suboptimal for therapies requiring controlled and delayed release, emphasizing the need for customizable drug delivery systems for precision medicine. This study\u2019s objective was to optimize 3D-printed capsule shells formulated with pH-responsive polymer blends\u2014hydroxypropyl methylcellulose acetate succinate (HPMC-AS), PEG-4000, and PVA\u2014to achieve controlled and sustained drug release, comparing profiles against a commercial enteric capsule. Capsule shells were produced via fused filament fabrication (FFF) at two ratios (80:15:5 and 70:20:10), filled with acetaminophen (250 mg), and tested using a two-stage dissolution method (simulated gastric fluid (SGF) for 2 h followed by simulated intestinal fluid (SIF) for 4\u20135 h). Results showed negligible drug release in SGF (\u22645%) for both printed and commercial capsules. However, in SIF, the commercial capsule released its payload rapidly (&gt;80% within 15 min), while the 3D-printed capsules achieved a prolonged, gradual release. The higher HPMC-AS content significantly extended the release duration. All capsules met the pharmacopeial weight uniformity criteria. In conclusion, the 3D-printed shells provided a controllable, sustained drug release profile, underscoring 3D printing\u2019s potential to create tunable, patient-specific dosage forms.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ma19030532","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,29]],"date-time":"2026-01-29T10:08:57Z","timestamp":1769681337000},"page":"532","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Optimizing Intestinal Drug Delivery: A Comparative Study of Commercial Enteric Capsules and 3D-Printed Capsules with Customizable Release Profiles for Enhanced Precision Medicine"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Devansh","family":"Sharma","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Boston, MA 02115, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0700-711X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Shantanu G.","family":"Gaurkhede","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering, The Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA"},{"name":"Department of Computer Science and Engineering Technology, Valdosta State University, Valdosta, GA 31698, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6141-2103","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jia","family":"Deng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering, The Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-8690-4792","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anthony J.","family":"Di Pasqua","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Boston, MA 02115, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Fassihi, S.C., Talukder, R., and Fassihi, R. (2019). Colon-targeted delivery systems for therapeutic applications: Drug release from multiparticulate, monolithic matrix, and capsule-filled delivery systems. Targeted Nanosystems for Therapeutic Applications: New Concepts, Dynamic Properties, Efficiency, and Toxicity, American Chemical Society. 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