3D Printing in medicine: Technology overview and drug delivery applications

Abstract

The concept of tailored medicine for individual patients have been around for a while but recently earned much attention. Great interest is given to 3D printing technology due to its immense application potential in the pharmaceutical industry and other health care sectors. 3D printing technology involves Layer-by-layer fabrication of 3Dgra objects from digital designs. This review gives a detailed yet much-focused discussion about 3D printing technology, the outline of 3D printing-based drug delivery technology its application in the pharmaceutical product development process. Based on the method of material layering, 3D printers are generally inkjet, extrusion, or laser-based systems. This review discusses the different types of 3D printers and their applications in different areas of drug delivery. A selection of recent researches carried out in the field of pharmaceutical 3D printing for drug delivery applications is also included. In addition to the promising opportunities, the review discusses the technical and regulatory challenges that slow down the implementation of such technology in the pharmaceutical and health care sector and the suggested measures to overcome such challenges.

Keywords

• 3D printing
• Layer-by-layer
• Pharmaceuticals
• Personalized medicine
• Customized dose
• Drug delivery