Print your way to on-demand medication
If you’ve run out of meds and the pharmacy is closed, soon you may be able to just reach for a printer.
If you take multiple medications, you know how important it is to keep track of them.
Many seniors use plastic containers with individual boxes to separate the pills into daily doses so they can remember which pill to take and when.
But what about if you could combine several drugs into one daily pill? The day could be coming when drugs are printed at personalised dosages that best suit your health needs.
3D printing provides a new system for manufacturing drugs and treatments on-site at pharmacies, health care facilities, and other remote locations –perhaps, one day, even at home.
In 2015, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved the first 3D-printed drug, Spritam (levetiracetam), for epilepsy. Several other drug companies are now developing their own.
Those who champion the technology are also aware its widespread adoption would require stringent quality control measures to ensure that people get the right medication and dosage. Even a tiny mismeasurement of a drug ingredient during the printing process could endanger a patient’s health.
The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has assessed various approaches to ensuring that 3D drug printers work as intended.
NIST focused on a system that can print personalised medication on demand.
Like inkjet printers in homes, though larger, the printer has nozzles that deposit the drug’s liquified materials, or “inks”, into tiny wells on a tray or directly into capsules.
Through freeze-drying and other processes, the liquid can be turned into a tablet or powder to be poured into a capsule. It can also be evaporated onto a thin film that dissolves in the mouth.
Using 3D printing enables the dosage to be individualised and controls the form the medicine takes, so it is tailored to the person’s age, health, their immune system or genetic profile – even their personal preference. Some patients may prefer a liquid to a capsule, for example.
There’s also been research on “polypills”, which combine several medications into a single drug.
Some scientists have focused on the benefits for children who don’t like to take their medicine. With 3D printing, you can create drugs shaped like starfish or ones that taste like chocolate.
Researchers says 3D drug printing also has the huge potential to change vaccine distribution.
There would still be a need for a larger facility making the raw materials, but printing allows for more agile and quicker vaccine distribution to the public, which would be hugely helpful during another pandemic.
NIST is now working on developing a series of voluntary protocols or recommendations for quality control and measurement accuracy in 3D drug printing. This involves working collaboratively with a range of corporate and government agencies.
Related reading: NIST, Science Daily
