Queensland University: Accurate 3D Printing Drugs in Hospital Pharmacy Will Become Reality

3D printing techniques are used for drug manufacturing, and due to accurate control of the pore structure, it can be used according to the patient's actual needs of personalization, there is a huge potential, and there are many companies in this field. Research and testing.

3D printing pills can be quickly dissolved, picture from Aprecia

On February 13, 202, researchers from the University of Queensland (UG) explored 3D printing in the future, providing personalized medical care for patients, and published relevant papers.

According to pharmacists, Queensland University doctoral student, the main author of the papers, the main author of the paper, 3D printing technology is sufficient to implement specialized doses in the hospital and pharmacies in the next few years. Through this study, researchers hoped to accelerate the development of 3D printing drugs in both Australia.

Kruger said: "3D printing technology is often used in other medical applications, such as dental, orthopedic implants, however, in the pharmaceutical field, the use of 3D printing technology is lagging behind. Through this study, we want to drive 3D printing The development of pharmaceutical technology, this is a chance to the future of the Australian pharmaceutical industry. "

Spritam is the world's first 3D printing drug approved by FDA, sold by Aprecia Pharmaceutical. For treatment of seizures, 3D print pills have high porosity than traditional manufacturing pills, which means they are soluble and act faster in the body. Picture of Aprecia

3D printing pharmaceutical progress

It is widely believed that adding materials have provided a lot of advantages for clinical pharmaceutical development, such as personalized treatment according to patient needs, accelerating drug delivery time, and achieving on-demand, but 3D printing drug technology from laboratory to clinical transitions Start stage.

3D printing in the pharmaceutical industry, picture from Fabrx

However, this area has some distinctive development, especially Aprecia, who received the first approval of 3D printing drugs early in 2015. Spritam drugs developed by Aprecia have been approved for treatment of epilepsy, after which they continue to expand production scale through cooperation with R & D company BATTELLE.

Aprecia has developed a personalized drug for treating children rare metabolic diseases through a flexible drug manufacturing platform, and has created 3D printing pills with Braille and moon patterns to help patients with visual obstacles.

In addition, Global Pharmaceutical Company Merck and EOS AMCM launched a joint project, developed and produced 3D printing pills in 2020, first for clinical trials, followed by commercial production.

In China, there are also very few companies in 3D printing drug research, the most representative is to establish Nanjing Sanshi Jials in 2015. They are committed to building a new 3D printing drug technology platform, forming a pharmaceutical dosage form, Digital development, to intelligent production of full chain proprietary technology. At present, as the first China Pharmaceutical Enterprise selected for the US FDA emerging technology project, San-Tval is involved in the development of American Pharmacopoeia 3D printing drug industry standards.

3D print pill is the future of medicine?

Queensland University has conducted the latest research in the field of 3D printing pharmaceuticals. The research shows that this technology is now sufficiently perfect, and it will be deployed in hospitals and pharmacies in the future.

Kruger said: "3D printing technology can be tailored to the patient to ensure that it has an accurate dose or combination that meets specific needs. With 3D printing, we can combine five pills into one, and even change the size of the pill. , Shape, color, taste, or texture. "

Although 3D printing drugs have significant advantages, they need to be widely used in medical environments, still need to solve some challenges.

One of the challenges is printing time. In terms of routine, it takes about 3 minutes to print for about 3 minutes, and a batch of 28 pills take approximately 45 minutes. This is too long to wait for the clinic to deploy drugs, and you need to shorten the time to actually apply in the real world.

However, the common author of the paper, Amirali Popat, Associate Professor Queensland University, believes that 3D printing can reduce the type of patient medication.

He said: "Multi-drug treatment refers to the use of five or more drugs at the same time, about two-thirds of 75-year-old Australians are in this treatment. The true benefits of 3D printing pills are consumers or patients, though There is also a road to go before the implementation, but this is a very exciting development trend. "

The researchers said that this study is the beginning of Queensland University on personalized medical feasibility in the real world, so far, the data collected is hoped.

The National Chairman of the Chrisfreeman, the National Chairman of the Chrisfreeman, the Australian Pharmaceutical Association said: "3D printing in the future can help people who need a variety of drugs in the correct time, the correct dose takes the right drug."

For more information on this study, see the title "3D Printing: Potential Clinical Applications for Personalised Solid DoseMedics", published in the Australian Medical Journal. The common author of the study was L. Krueger, J. Miles, K. Steadman, T. Kumeria, C. Freeman and A. Popat.