Chocolate flavored pills for children who hate taking medicine.
Several medications combined into one daily pill for seniors who have trouble remembering to take their medications.
Medications printed at your local pharmacy in the personalized dosages that best fit your health needs.
These are just some of the potential benefits of 3D medicine printing, a new system for manufacturing medicines and treatments on-site in pharmacies, healthcare facilities and other remote locations.
In 2015, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first 3D-printed drug, Spritam (levetiracetam), for epilepsy. Several other manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies are developing their own.
But widespread adoption of 3D printing medicines will require strict quality control measures to ensure people receive the correct medication and dosage. Even a small error in measuring a medication ingredient during the printing process could endanger a patient’s health.
In a new research paper, NIST research scientist Thomas P. Forbes evaluates several approaches to ensure that drug 3D printers perform as designed. The journal article applies a “quality by design” analysis to evaluate the best procedures and protocols to ensure that 3D printers produce medications at the right doses and with the right mix of chemicals.
Although there are several methods for printing medications remotely, Forbes focused on one of the most common: inkjet printers and similar systems that can print personalized medications on demand.
Like the inkjet printers used in homes, although larger, the printer has nozzles that deposit the liquefied drug materials, or inks, into small wells on a tray or directly into capsules. Through freeze-drying and other processes, the liquid can be turned into a tablet or powder that is poured into a capsule. It can also evaporate into a thin film that dissolves in the mouth.
The Forbes article makes no recommendations. Instead, their research identifies and tests several possible methods and techniques to maintain quality control in 3D printing medicines.