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3D printing for drug manufacturing: A perspective on the future of pharmaceuticals

drug dosing by making multi-drug and multi-dose and likely imprecision involved in the pharmaceutical
carriers not only possible, but simple to fabricate. making process. Solving these potential risks is the
So called “polypills” can be created by combining precision of custom 3D printing drugs. Leveraging 3D
different drugs, materials with varying concentrations printing’s control over release characteristics of drugs
of the same or different drugs, and various materials and its ability to produce precise and unique doses,
with differing release characteristics into the same pill. individualized medicine can provide prescription-based
3D printing is the most effective and efficient method pharmaceutical products with the safety of digital control
for accomplishing this [103,104] . Multiple drugs can be and the personalization of 3D printing.
combined in a pill by printing with multiple filaments 5. Conclusion and Future Perspectives
or inks, each loaded with a different drug. Likewise,
multiple materials can be printed simultaneously to form Through this article, we have provided our perspective
a single pill comprising multiple release characteristics. on the merits of 3D printing for drug manufacturing.
These capacities come together to produce a myriad Selective laser sintering, inkjet printing, and extrusion-
of possibilities, including, but not limited to: multiple based printing were presented as applicable 3D printing
layers, self-contained compartments, and inner-to- methods for drug manufacturing. Solid filament
outer variation, each with either different doses or even materials and natural and synthetic hydrogels were
different drugs. Such polypills made possible by 3D con sidered as possible materials for drug loading and
printing may very well be the future of precise and printing. Various rationales for the 3D printing of drugs
unique drug dosing. were also presented, including control over the release
4.3 On-Demand Capabilities characteristics of drugs, the ability to print precise and
unique doses, and the on-demand capabilities inherent
Point-of-care and pharmacy-based drug production may with the printing approach.
be the future of pharmaceuticals. 3D printing fulfills this 3D printing for drug manufacturing represents the
niche portion of drug manufacturing. By implementing future of pharmaceuticals. While diverse industries
3D printing as a fabrication method for pharmaceuticals, across all of society are adopting 3D printing as a me-
drugs can be on-demand in time-limited and resource- thod for manufacturing, medicine and healthcare have
limited settings [1,105] . The on-demand capabilities are yet to fully harness the capabilities of 3D printing
applicable to settings such as disaster relief, emergency for the direct-write fabrication of medications. With
and operating rooms, on board first response vehicles, or continued research, we believe personalized medicine
medical facilities for the military. Time is also a critical will reach new levels of possibility, and pharmacies will
factor when fabricating and delivering low-stability be revolutionized by this particular application of 3D
drugs, which is another instance of an application for on- printing.
[97]
demand printing of drugs .
The printing of pharmaceutical products can also Conflict of Interest
be implemented to produce drugs on-the-spot and in
accordance with specific, individualized prescriptions, No conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
thereby revolutionizing pharmacy compounding [106] .
Currently, patient-centered pharmaceuticals are limited Acknowledgments
to compounding pharmacies. Traditionally, pharmacy
compounding is reserved for patients with special S.T. acknowledges the American Heart Association
medical needs, offering custom medications which are Scientist Development Grant (15SDG25080056),
not commercially available. In particular, pharmacists Connecticut Innovations Biopipeline Award, and
prepare small-scale batches based on individual pre- the University of Connecticut Research Excellence
scriptions. However, the individual-centric practices of Program award for financial support of this research.
compounding pharmacies have associated risks [107] . S.T. is founder of, and have an equity interest in
Pharmacy compounding is traditionally reserved mBiotics, LLC, a company that is developing micro-
for cases in which a patient requires a dosage form, fluidic technologies for point-of-care diagnostic so-
strength, or medicine cocktail that is not commercially lutions. S.T.’s interests were viewed and managed in
available. In such cases, the risk-benefit ratio of using accordance with the conflict of interest policies of the
the compounded medicine is favorable for the pa- University of Connecticut. The authors have no other
tient [107] . However, the risk-benefit scale tips in the relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any
opposite direction for medications that have other more organization or entity with a financial interest in or
commercialized options. The reason for the variance financial conflict with the subject matter or materials
in the merit of compounding is the inherit variability discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

8 International Journal of Bioprinting (2018)–Volume 4, Issue 1