Pharmaceutical applications of 3D printing technology: current understanding and future perspectives

Three-dimensional printing (3DP) technology allows the fabrication of 3D objects with various geometrics in a layer-by-layer process. Some advantages of 3DP methods over the conventional manufacturing processes include the customization of medicines with individually adjusted doses, the ability to fabricate the sophisticated and complex solid dosage forms, on-demand manufacturing, and cost-effectiveness. Furthermore, recent years have seen an increasing interest in applying 3DP technology to the pharmaceutical manufacturing of drug products and development of various drug delivery systems. However, although 3DP technology exhibits many potential medical and economic benefits, there are also some technical and regulatory challenges restricting the wide applications of 3DP technology to pharmaceutical products. Accordingly, continuous innovation and refinement in 3DP methods are needed to overcome the current limitations and facilitate patient-specific health care with on-demand tailored medications in the future. This review introduces some 3DP techniques suitable for pharmaceutical manufacturing and also their applications to the development of drug dosage forms, indicating the feasibility of this technology in regular commercial production.