Pharmaceutical 3D Printing

The application of three-dimensional printers can be revolutionary as a tool for the customization and personalization of pharmaceutical dosage forms. The areas of 3D printing applicable to pharmaceutical manufacturing can be segregated into three categories: extrusion technologies, powder-bed fusion, and stereolithography. Common extrusion-based technologies are fused deposition modeling and pressure-assisted microsyringe; powder-bed fusion is separated by binder jet and selective laser sintering. The synergies between pharmaceutical, or active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), and polymer printing are discussed in this article, with particular attention to how the incorporation of small-molecule APIs changes the material selection, design considerations, processing parameters, and challenges associated with each technology.