New 3D printing method promises personalised pills

The method – developed by a team from the University of East Anglia (UEA) and Loughborough University – allows the 3D printing of medicine in highly porous structures, which can be used to regulate the rate of drug release from the medicine to the body when taken orally.

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Research leader Dr Sheng Qi, a Reader in Pharmaceutics at UEA's School of Pharmacy, said: "Personalised medicine uses new manufacturing technology to produce pills that have the accurate dose and drug combinations tailored to individual patients. This would allow the patients to get maximal drug benefit with minimal side effects.

"Such treatment approaches can particularly benefit elderly patients who often have to take many different types of medicines per day, and patients with complicated conditions such as cancer, mental illness and inflammatory bowel disease."

In a statement, Dr Qi said the team’s work is foundational for the technology needed to produce personalised medicine at the point-of-care, adding that 3D printing has the ability to produce porous pharmaceutical solid dosage forms on-demand.