3D Printing Drugs: The Latest Advancements

by Sriram Renganathan
Feb 23, 2019

Millions of people around the world are regular users of medicinal pills and capsules. While we acknowledge the fact that pills make us feel better and treat us, we should also not ignore the difficulties we face when taking a pill.

According to PMLive, a recent survey revealed that up to 50% of people have difficulties during pill intake. Some people find it difficult to swallow capsules due to large sizes. Children may avoid tablets owing to their unpleasant taste. It’s still worse in the case of elderly people. Their usual routine of medications includes a handful of pills. For these reasons, it’s important to address problems associated with taking pills.
The conventional drug manufacturing process uses standard drug formulations that are more suitable for mass manufacturing. But they can’t provide answers to all the challenges faced by customers. A more powerful technology that drives “personalization” is the need of the hour in the pharmaceutical industry.
Enter 3D printing and “personalized medicines”. Scientists and pharmaceutical researchers believe that 3D printing may be an answer to most of the problems associated with drug intake. 

Vision 

Let’s first have a look at the different 3D printing technologies used for drugs followed by the recent trends across the world in 3D printed drugs.

Drug 3D Printing Technologies

FDM and HME
Fused deposition modeling (FDM) combined with hot-melt extrusion (HME) — to produce drug-loaded filaments — represents one promising technique for 3D printing drugs. The major challenge is that the temperatures needed during printing might degrade active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).
One researcher explored the feasibility of FDM to 3D print tablets. Specifically, he loaded domperidone into hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) filament, which was then 3D printed using FDM to create hollow tablets. Another researcher demonstrated that prednisolone could be loaded into PVA filament and 3D printed.
Inkjet Printing
In inkjet printing, different combinations of active ingredients and excipients (inks) are sprayed through a nozzle to deposit three-dimensional structures in solid dosage forms. This layer-by-layer deposition of the drug ingredient gives rise to a three-dimensional tablet.
In one particular study, maltodextrin and maltitol were mixed with a drug carrier called captopril. The powders were then bound using water-based inks.
SLA
Stereolithography (SLA) is another promising technology for the fabrication of drug-loaded tablets. In general, SLA uses a laser beam to photopolymerize monomers.
Using SLA, a team out of University College London combined a drug monomer with a photoinitiatior in order to produce a resin-based pill.
SLS
Selective laser sintering (SLS) has been used to fabricate dosages with accelerated drug release. This is achieved by mixing active ingredients with certain copolymers and fusing the resulting powders with a laser.

The main idea behind 3D printing drugs is to design and develop medicines that are suited to an individual’s needs. In this way, we can easily adjust the size, appearance, shape, and rate of delivery of a wide array of medicines.