Abstract
The pharmaceutical industry is set to join the fourth industrial revolution with the 3D printing of medicines. The application of 3D printers in compounding pharmacies will turn them into digital pharmacies, wrapping up the telemedicine care cycle and definitively modifying the pharmacotherapeutic treatment of patients. Fused deposition modeling 3D printing technology melts extruded drug-loaded filaments into any dosage form; and allows the obtainment of flexible dosages with different shapes, multiple active pharmaceutical ingredients and modulated drug release kinetics—in other words, offering customized medicine. This work aimed to present an update on this technology, discussing its challenges. The co-participation of the pharmaceutical industry and compounding pharmacies seems to be the best way to turn this technology into reality. The pharmaceutical industry can produce drug-loaded filaments on a large scale with the necessary quality and safety guarantees; while digital pharmacies can transform the filaments into personalized medicine according to specific prescriptions. For this to occur, adaptations in commercial 3D printers will need to meet health requirements for drug products preparation, and it will be necessary to make advances in regulatory gaps and discussions on patent protection. Thus, despite the conservatism of the sector, 3D drug printing has the potential to become the biggest technological leap ever seen in the pharmaceutical segment, and according to the most optimistic prognostics, it will soon be within reach.
Highlights
The industrial revolution in its beginning transformed drug therapy with large-scale production in assembly line, symbolized by the production of tablets in 1834
Diversified drug delivery devices using 3D Fused deposition modeling (FDM) technology are being developed at a fast pace by dozens of researches groups in different parts of the globe [58]
FDM 3D printing is a versatile technology widely studied for the production of multiple drug delivery devices
Summary
The industrial revolution in its beginning transformed drug therapy with large-scale production in assembly line, symbolized by the production of tablets in 1834. The artisanal processes employed today at compounding pharmacies to meet patient’s individuals needs are similar to those used in apothecaries hundreds of years ago They are not capable of elaborating controlled-release dosage forms and are not sufficiently equipped to guarantee the quality specifications required by the pharmacopoeia, risking patient safety [18]. The automation of the 3D printing process and the high accuracy achieved by FDM technology makes the printing of drug products potentially safer It could prevent low-quality issues and meet the necessary requirements to take drug personalization to another level [14,15,19,20,21]. The hot-melt extruded drug loaded filaments can be produced by the industry on a large scale as an intermediate product These filaments can be transformed into personalized medicines for medical prescriptions at local pharmacies [27]. ‘Dual-compartmental dosage unit’ can combine two incompatible drugs (rifampicin and isoniazid) used in tuberculosis treatment, using polylactic acid to separate the drug filaments and generate distinct dissolution patterns [47]
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