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Review
. 2019 Sep;14(5):465-479.
doi: 10.1016/j.ajps.2018.11.008. Epub 2019 Feb 14.

Complex formulations, simple techniques: Can 3D printing technology be the Midas touch in pharmaceutical industry?

Shrawani Lamichhane  1 , Santosh Bashyal  1 , Taekwang Keum  1 , Gyubin Noh  1 , Jo Eun Seo  1 , Rakesh Bastola  1 , Jaewoong Choi  1 , Dong Hwan Sohn  1 , Sangkil Lee  1
Affiliations
Review

Complex formulations, simple techniques: Can 3D printing technology be the Midas touch in pharmaceutical industry?

Shrawani Lamichhane et al. Asian J Pharm Sci. 2019 Sep.

Abstract

3D printing is a method of rapid prototyping and manufacturing in which materials are deposited onto one another in layers to produce a three-dimensional object. Although 3D printing was developed in the 1980s and the technology has found widespread industrial applications for production from automotive parts to machine tools, its application in pharmaceutical area is still limited. However, the potential of 3D printing in the pharmaceutical industry is now being recognized. The ability of 3D printing to produce medications to exact specifications tailored to the needs of individual patients has indicated the possibility of developing personalized medicines. The technology allows dosage forms to be precisely printed in various shapes, sizes and textures that are difficult to produce using traditional techniques. However, there are various challenges associated with the proper application of 3D printing in the pharmaceutical sector which should be overcome to exploit the scope of this technology. In this review, an overview is provided on the various 3D printing technologies used in fabrication of complex dosage forms along with their feasibility and limitations.

Keywords: Complex formulations; Fused deposition modeling; Inkjet printing; Personalized medicine; Three-dimensional printing.

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Figures

Image, graphical abstract
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1.
Fig. 1
General process of 3D printing with reference to nozzle-based printing: design of the object using computer aided design software (CAD) and file saved in STL. (A) Format Slicing and printer setting using slicing software; (B) file saved in format supported by the printer (e.g. G-code); (C) printing of designed object using suitable 3D printing technology (e.g. nozzle-based technology); (D) finished printed object.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2
Advantages of 3D printing in pharmaceutical sector.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3
Different 3D printing technologies: (A) SLA bottom-up, (B) SLA top-down, (C) SLS, (D) IJP and (E) FDM .
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4
Different types of inkjet printing.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 5
Examples of applications of 3D printing in pharmaceutical sector. (A) Images of PVA filament (left) and fluorescein-loaded filament (right) under UV light (Reproduced with permission from . Copyright 2014 Elsevier B.V.); (B) design and printed tablets of different geometrical shapes using FDM technology (Reproduced with permission from . Copyright 2015 Elsevier B.V.); (C) multicompartment capsular device printed using FDM technology (Reproduced with permission from . Copyright 2015 Elsevier B.V.); (D) dual-nozzle FDM (Reproduced with permission from . Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V.); (E) channeled tablets (front and side view with channel sizes) (Reproduced with permission from . Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V.).
Fig. 6.
Fig. 6
Past, present and future of 3D printing in pharmaceutical sector.
Fig. 7.
Fig. 7
Personalized medicine using 3D printing.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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