A lot has been achieved in the field of medicine using 3D printing technology. It has now paved the way for a new dimension in customized medication. According to a study presented at American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, based on the clinical profile of the patient, personalized pills can be produced using 3D printing.

Researchers from Wake Forest University, Columbia University and University of North Carolina created a computer algorithm which takes into account the patient’s biological and medical characteristics like patient’s weight, race, kidney and liver functions, to adjust the dosage. These personalized pills are then converted to 3D printable files which can be accurately printed using a 3D printer. The researchers 3D printed and tested five different doses of 80 pills ranging from 124 milligrams to 373 milligrams with very little variability.

“This is one of the earliest studies I know to use 3D printing for medicine compounding for precision medicine. Pharmacogenetics, which matches patients to drugs based on DNA information, offers an opportunity to provide care, treatment, and medicines customized to the individual. This type of personalized precision medicine requires physicians to prescribe customized drug products containing unique drug-dosage combinations and formulations specifically for individual patients,” said study investigator Min Pu, MD, who is a professor of internal medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Using 3D printing for personalized medicine provides a new method to formulate medicines based on individual patient’s clinical parameters. Additional research is needed before 3D printing could be used to produce treatments for patients.