pathoscribe

Written by Yannah Robles | Art by Anoushka Pandya

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is a vital component of technology, contributing not only to engineering, weaponry, and construction but also to healthcare. With its ability to print pills, the possibilities are starting to become endless, with other uses including prosthetics, implants, and medical devices. Printed pills are still oral medicines, just created using this novel process. The tablets are built layer by layer by a 6-by-12-foot printer, creating a pill not too different from regular ones on the market, just being a bit taller and having a rougher outer layer.

These tablets, although smaller, can pack a higher dose of medication, which will allow patients to take significantly fewer pills. The technique was first developed in 1997 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Although still nascent and experimental, this breakthrough opened a new direction for research, with Aprecia bringing out the printed pill technology in the early 2000s. Aprecia Pharmaceuticals acquired the MIT printing platform called ZipDose and, in 2015, used it to create Spiritam (levetiracetam), the world’s first FDA-approved 3D printed drug, which is an oral medicine used to treat partial-onset seizures in people four years of age and older. It’s greatly beneficial as it easily dissolves with just a sip of liquid, aiding patients with difficulty swallowing. By 2016, Spiritam was launched in the U.S., making this technology available for the first time. 

Since then, 3D-printed drug research has progressed rapidly. Currently, there are multiple printing methods, including semi-solid extrusion (SSE) and fused-deposition (FDM) techniques that use ingredients that are safe for the body and approved by the FDA. Simply put, SSE uses a thick gel or paste pushed out by a syringe to build the pill layer by layer, making the product soft, chewable, and easy to dissolve quickly. Meanwhile, FDM uses edible pharmaceutical-safe polymers with medicine mixed into them, melts them, and lays down the filament in very thin layers to create a pill. The most noticeable difference between the two methods is that FDM uses a solid filament while SSE uses a softer paste or gel. Both methods are uniquely used to serve different purposes, but both ultimately allow pharmacists and manufacturers to produce pills in real time at the point of care. This technology has already been implemented in the hospital pharmacy of Institut Gustave Roussy in Paris, which allowed the pharmacists to create more pills in a limited timeframe. Additionally, a study in Madrid used an SSE printer to fill low-dose minoxidil capsules in two strengths directly in a retail pharmacy—the automated process cut pharmacists’ workload by 55% and ensured consistent dosing. Even NASA has been exploring printed pills as a way to manufacture medicines on extended missions—where resupplying is difficult—and to carry lightweight drugs in outer space, which is limited due to the original mass and volume of the items. In veterinary medicine, researchers have also experimented with pet-friendly tablets–with unique imprints to differentiate from human drugs–that combine layers of different drugs to easily give medicine to our pets.

The advantages of this technology are clear: it allows fully personalized medicine with exact doses tailored for patients, and even the possibility of combining multiple drugs into a single, powerful tablet. This shows a bright future for patient convenience, with a wider range of options and fewer pills to take. With the process getting automated and done consistently, errors should decrease. 

However, this technology still faces its challenges, with the printers being expensive and not as fast as traditional mass production. As such, they are best suited to be made in small batches, limiting the number of patients receiving this treatment. Moreover, the regulations for this procedure are still being questioned, as each printed drug still needs to meet safety and quality standards, which can slow down approval. 

Regardless, research is constantly being developed for its improvement, so it is not far to assume that policies and regulations would soon be created. The hope is that someday, patients could walk into their local pharmacy and have medicine specifically prepared for them to maximize their treatment in the exact dose and maybe even in their favorite flavor, in just a few minutes. For now, our future is slowly being built, layer by layer.

Works Cited:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-20/university-research-3d-printed-pharmaceuticals/104242358

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2414644722000744

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/future-3d-printed-pills-180956292/

https://www.pharmtech.com/view/entering-new-domains-3d-printing-drug-products

https://www.nasa.gov/ochmo-3d-printing-at-ucls-school-of-pharmacy