SUMMARY:
• It is possible to create 3D printed pill with microdispensing.
• There are several advantages of microdispensing, as it can control tiny amounts and create complex structures.
Background
3D printing offers significant potential across various fields. Over the years, it has been used the technology to produce custom adapters, tools, and holders, allowing for tailored solutions that are not readily available commercially. Given its flexibility and adaptability, it seems likely that 3D printing will play a role in pharmaceutical development, particularly as personalized medicine continues to gain importance in research. Yet, surprisingly, there is very little literature on PubMed; a quick search yielded a mere 15 publications [1] . It seems that especially microdispensing could be a good match for this application.
Reasons for Using Inkjet Printing
Microdispensing offers several advantages:
- The drop-by-drop nature of microdispensing allows for precise control of amounts in complex structures, thereby allowing to e.g. customize release rates.
- Microdispensing can handle different substances in one go, from aqueous to matrix material, allowing custom building of structures.
- Mounting the dispenser on a gantry-style setup allows building in a 3D setting. When more than one Micro Dispenser Head is used, a very rapid combination of different liquids can be layered.
Watch an example
This video shows the 3D printing pills
Utility and Outlook
Especially with a stronger focus on personalized medicine in the current research setting, it is likely that 3D printing pharmaceuticals will allow the creation of customized gradients and combinations of different materials to optimize pharmacokinetics, manufacturing in a cost-efficient and economical design. But also, with other applications like organ-on-a-chip or customized assays, there is a lot of potential, as summarized in this review by Zhu et al. [2]. So, it is probably just a question of time until this becomes more popular.