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REVIEW ARTICLE

Three-Dimensional Printing Technologies for Drug

Delivery Applications: Processes, Materials, and Effects

Jessica Mancilla-De-la-Cruz , Marisela Rodriguez-Salvador *, Jia An , Chee Kai Chua 3
2
1
1
1 Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico
2 Singapore Centre for 3D Printing, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore
3 Singapore University of Technology and Design - Engineering Product Development, 8 Somapah Road, Singapore 487372,
Singapore

Abstract: Since the 1930s, new methods of drug delivery, such as implantable devices with drug release control, have been
developed. However, manufacturing techniques require bulk due to high initial production costs. Three-dimensional (3D)
printing, also known as additive manufacturing or rapid prototyping, allows the fabrication of personalized drug delivery
that uses different materials and complex geometries with multiple release profiles, thereby eradicating high initial costs.
Different studies have been developed showing the extensive potential of 3D printing for the pharmaceutical industry, and
despite in-depth discussions that have been published, there is no comprehensive review of processes, materials, and effects in
drug delivery applications thus far. This review aims to fill this gap by presenting the use of 3D printing technology for drug
delivery, exposing the different variations of the technique according to the characteristics, material, and dosage form sought.
There are seven main categories of 3D printing according to the standards jointly developed by International Organization
for Standardization and American Society for Testing and Materials: material jetting, binder jetting, material extrusion, vat
photopolymerization, powder bed fusion, sheet lamination, and directed energy deposition. There are different 3D fabrication
processes used for drug delivery applications depending on the dosage form and material applied. In this context, polymers,
glasses, and hydrogels represent the most frequent materials used. 3D printing allows different forms of drug dosage. Oral,
topical, rectal and vaginal, parental and implantable are discussed in this paper, presenting the identification of the type of
3D printing technology, the active pharmaceutical ingredient, formulation, and pharmaceutical effect. The main aim of this
paper is to offer insights to people from academy and industry who are interested in the advancement of drug delivery and in
knowing the future directions in the development of 3D printing applications in this area.
Keywords: Three-dimensional printing; Drug delivery; Pharmaceutical applications; Additive manufacturing

*Correspondence to: Marisela Rodriguez-Salvador, Tecnologico de Monterrey - Escuela de Ingenieria y Ciencias, Av. Eugenio Garza Sada 2501
Sur Col. Tecnologico Monterrey, Monterrey, N.L. 64849, Mexico; marisrod@tec.mx
Received: August 18, 2022; Accepted: October 7, 2022; Published Online: October 20, 2022

Citation: Mancilla-De-la-Cruz J, Rodriguez-Salvador M, An J, et al., 2022. Three-Dimensional Printing Technologies for Drug Delivery

Applications: Processes, Materials and Effects. Int J Bioprint, 8(4): 622. http://doi.org/10.18063/ijb.v8i4.622
1. Introduction such as those with an enteric and hydrophilic polymer
coating exhibiting resilience to the acidic conditions in
The introduction of conventional drug delivery the stomach, and produce delayed release (DR) of the
devices (DDDs) in the form of solid oral dosage forms API . This widened the possible drugs that could be
[2]
began in the early 18 century, whereby the active ingested orally, with APIs which otherwise degraded in
th
pharmaceutical ingredient (API) was swallowed into the stomach acid now being able to be released into the
the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, dissolved and absorbed GI tract instead .
[3]
into the gut prior to circulating through the body in the The concept of delivering drugs over a longer time
blood stream . By the late 1800s, formulations began span was introduced in the 1930s when Deansely and
[1]
to be designed to better suit a particular condition, Parkes subcutaneously implanted pellets constructed
© 2022 Author(s). This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting distribution and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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