https://padlet.com/sarahsalmon/wb364yy5lx4w Sarah Salmon en-us 2017-10-09 19:07:43 UTC 2025-12-10 10:37:49 UTC hello@padlet.com sarahsalmon https://padlet.com/sarahsalmon/wb364yy5lx4w/wish/195360193 Although the idea for 3D printers has been around since the 1980s, only within the last few years has pharmacology begun to explore the implications of this technology. Only recently in 2017 the FDA actually approved the first 3d printer manufactured drug for patient use. In 2015, not only have 3D printers been shown to effectively create single medications, but also effectively create pills with multiple drugs that do not have unsafe interactions or unintended blending. 
This means that pharmaceutical companies have a huge flexibility to personalize drugs with individualized dosages for patients.]]> 2017-10-09 19:11:39 UTC https://padlet.com/sarahsalmon/wb364yy5lx4w/wish/195360193 sarahsalmon https://padlet.com/sarahsalmon/wb364yy5lx4w/wish/195360250 This decreases the amount of pills that a patient would have to take as well as increases the likelihood of adherence to the regimen. ]]> 2017-10-09 19:11:51 UTC https://padlet.com/sarahsalmon/wb364yy5lx4w/wish/195360250 sarahsalmon https://padlet.com/sarahsalmon/wb364yy5lx4w/wish/195360262 This technology is very expensive (both for the printer and the medications) and time consuming, as creating specific drug combinations for individuals, instead of mass producing single drugs is a very individualized process.]]> 2017-10-09 19:11:55 UTC https://padlet.com/sarahsalmon/wb364yy5lx4w/wish/195360262 sarahsalmon https://padlet.com/sarahsalmon/wb364yy5lx4w/wish/195360319 I think that this is an excellent use for technology that will one day become more widespread, however, I  believe that due to financial restraints we will mainly be seeing this in research studies and for high profile patients until it is more widely used. The fact that there is no unintentional blending or interactions with the multiple medications is astounding and very impressive! However, this study was only creating one mixture of drugs for hypertension, and I believe that in a hospital setting where many different patients would require many different drugs, this would mean there would absolutely need to be a safe and effective cleaning technique for the printer to avoid any mixing of drugs that are not for the intended patient. It also makes me wonder if this means that people could begin to print their own medications at home if this became a more affordable option for people in the future. ]]> 2017-10-09 19:12:10 UTC https://padlet.com/sarahsalmon/wb364yy5lx4w/wish/195360319 sarahsalmon https://padlet.com/sarahsalmon/wb364yy5lx4w/wish/195360608 Khaled, Burley, Alexander, Yang, & Roberts. (2015). 3D printing of tablets containing multiple drugs with defined release profiles. International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 494(2), 643-650.]]> 2017-10-09 19:13:16 UTC https://padlet.com/sarahsalmon/wb364yy5lx4w/wish/195360608 sarahsalmon https://padlet.com/sarahsalmon/wb364yy5lx4w/wish/195379958 This is a picture of a 3d printer and the printed tablet from the article.]]> 2017-10-09 20:32:41 UTC https://padlet.com/sarahsalmon/wb364yy5lx4w/wish/195379958