COMPOUNDED ACTIVE PHARMACEUTICAL AGENTS IN THERMOPLASTIC POLYMER COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS OF MANUFACTURE

In a method of integrating an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) with a thermoplastic polymer, the thermoplastic polymer and API are into a first feed port of a multi-screw extruder or the thermoplastic polymer is fed into the first feed port of a multi-screw extruder, the thermoplastic polymer is conveyed along the heated multi-screw extruder while heating the thermoplastic polymer to a melt temperature of 160° C.-280° C. prior to the thermoplastic polymer being conveyed past a second feed port and the API is fed into the second feeding port in the heated screw extruder to mix with the melted thermoplastic polymer to generate a compounded mixture containing 85-100% of the starting API content. The compounded mixture is extruded from an outlet of the heated screw extruder and cooled via a cooling device such that the compounded mixture contains 85-100% of the starting API content.