US FDA approves first 3D printed pill

In a 2012 TedGlobal talk, Prof Lee Cronin from  the University of Glasgow likened a printer to a refrigerator that was full of all the ingredients one might require to make any dish in Jamie Oliver's new book.

He went on to describe how the idea could be applied to drugs, such as ibuprofen, by enabling a 3D printer to follow a recipe given by a pharmaceutical company and produce whatever was needed, on the fly from a set of chemical inks.

In a major step towards realising that vision, the US Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved the first prescription drug made through 3D printing in the US.

Created by Aprecia Pharmaceuticals, the drug -- called Spritam takes the form of a dissolvable tablet used in the treatment of certain types of seizures in adults and children with epilepsy.

With the technology, the company would be able to tailor each dose individually and no measuring or splitting would be involved.

Doctors have been using customised, 3D printing for creating implants for patients with injuries and are exploring a wide range of other applications, such as printing human tissue and even whole organs. For instance, a new-born, three years ago, received a 3D splint to keep his airway from collapsing.

The company  plans to develop other medications using its 3D platform.

Printing the drugs allowed layers of medication to be packaged more tightly in precise dosages.

A separate technology developed by the firm, known as ZipDose, made high dosage medications easier to swallow.

The printing allowed packaging of the drug up to 1,000 milligrams into individual tablets.

The 3D-printed pill dissolved in the same manner as other oral medicines.

The ability to 3D print a tablet opened up the possibility of creating bespoke drugs based on the specific needs of patients, rather than having a one product fits all approach, say experts.

"For the last 50 years we have manufactured tablets in factories and shipped them to hospitals and for the first time this process means we can produce tablets much closer to the patient," said Dr Mohamed Albed Alhnan, a lecturer in pharmaceutics at the University of Central Lancashire, BBC News reported.

It would allow medical institutions to adjust the dose for individual patients with only a simple tweak to the software before printing. According to Alhnan, earlier, such personalised medicine would have been extremely expensive to produce.