Smartphone-enabled 3D printing of medicines
3D printing is a manufacturing technique that is transforming numerous industrial sectors. Within healthcare, it is empowering the small-scale development of personalised medicines that meet the individual needs of patients. 3D printing systems are being currently tested in specialised clinical settings by healthcare professionals, however, there is a need for integrating novel digital solutions that allow for rapid, safe and remote medical interventions directly at the point-of-care.
To this end, a portable smartphone-activated 3D printer, operated with a custom mobile app is proposed for the first time to prepare personalised medicines. The printer uses the light from the smartphone’s screen to photopolymerise liquid resins and create solid structures. Warfarin-loaded Printlets (3D printed tablets) of various sizes and patient-centred shapes (caplet, triangle, diamond, square, pentagon, torus, and gyroid lattices) were successfully printed in high resolution and dimensional precision using different photosensitive resins.
The drug within the Printlets existed in the amorphous form, wherein the Printlets displayed sustained release characterises. The promising proof-of-concept results support the future potential of this compact, user-friendly and interconnected smartphone-based system for point-of-care manufacturing of personalised medications.
Article information: Xiaoyan Xu, Alejandro Manuel Seijo Rabina, Atheer Awad, Carlos Rial, Simon Gaisford, Abdul W. Basit, Alvaro Goyanes, Smartphone-enabled 3D printing of medicines, International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpharm.2021.121199.