Pharmaceutical companies produce high-quality medicines, typically in standard dosages. However, as patients differ widely in physiology, age, genetics, response to drugs, and many other factors, this ‘one size fits all’ approach is not always ideal. Personalised approaches allow therapy doses, formulations or drug combinations to be tailored to individual patient needs. This improves treatment effectiveness, safety and adherence, particularly for children, the elderly, patients with complex or rare conditions, and the like.
More accurate compounding
Pharmacies currently produce such personalised medicine through magistral preparation (also known as compounding), in which the pharmacist creates medications by hand to meet unique patient needs. The process, however, is often time-consuming, laborious, limited in accuracy and reproducibility, and may even result in errors, demonstrating the need for a better alternative.
Expertise that accelerates
With more than 35 years of 3D printing experience, TNO at Holst Centre is addressing this need by creating new 3D printing equipment and processes, as well as the material formulations required. 3D printing technologies being employed include semi-solid extrusion, selective laser sintering, binder jetting, and filament-based printing. The various printing equipment employed, all developed in-house, allows for the creation of tablets with personalised size (and therefore dosage), shape and release profile. Dedicated formulations have been developed for the various printing processes, allowing for highly accurate and reproducible tablet creation as well as capsule filling. The automated process can produce products quickly and safely, thus offering a sound alternative to current manual processes. It also provides a new tool for pharmaceutical companies.
Brand-scale application
TNO at Holst Centre’s future developments will allow for a broader application of the technology and provide additional quality and safety assurance, both in pharma and in other domains. These developments include scaling up of the printing technology, inline process analytical tools, and multi-material printing for more complex products.
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