Tailored release: several profiles in a single tablet

Why the release profile matters

When and how fast an active ingredient is released from a tablet largely determines how it acts in the body. Conventional tablets usually follow one pattern: immediate release, delayed release, or release spread over a longer period (extended release). Combining several profiles usually requires several tablets or elaborate multilayer and coating processes.

What the 2023 study shows

A paper published in the International Journal of Pharmaceutics in 2023 by researchers from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and Laxxon Medical (Enke et al.) examined exactly this combination. From two paracetamol pastes, one immediate-release and one extended-release, disc- and ring-shaped tablets were printed that bring both compartments together.

The tablets were uniform in size and mass and met the European Pharmacopoeia criteria for breaking strength and friability. The decisive result concerns release: it depended both on the paste materials and on the size of the individual compartments. The profile can therefore be set through formulation and geometry; the authors speak of “freely tailorable release profiles” in the title of their paper.

The preceding 2021 study had already shown that release from printed tablets depends on the ratio of surface area to volume, and thus directly on the shape defined by the screen.

Possible applications

Several approaches follow for practice. Adare and Laxxon name, among others, combining immediate, extended and delayed release in one tablet, several active ingredients each with its own profile in one dosage form, adapted pharmacokinetics, and forms that are easier to swallow.

One example from development at Laxxon concerns Parkinson’s therapy: in 2023 the company described a levodopa product intended to release its active ingredient only eight to nine hours after intake. The aim is to reduce so-called freezing of gait, sudden blockages while walking. Similar questions arise with peptides such as GLP-1 receptor agonists, which must be protected in the gastrointestinal tract and supported in their absorption.

Preclinical data on the Parkinson’s application are now available: in a pilot study in pigs published in Pharmaceutics in 2025, LXM.5, a tablet with carbidopa and levodopa in separate compartments, released the two active ingredients one after the other. Depending on the variant, levodopa exposure reached 211% and 384% of the standard product Sinemet®, with more even blood levels. The study contains no results in humans.