By Dr. Jennifer Sun, Chief Scientific Officer of BMF Biotechnology Inc.
While 3D printing is a relatively new technology, it’s been known for its ability to rapidly iterate on product design since its inception. Today, 3D printing is an integral part of processes and workflows across industries from dental to consumer goods to medtech and, in many cases, it’s a solution for longstanding challenges that traditional manufacturing methods, such as molding, are unable to address. As trends of miniaturization and personalization drive innovation across these industries and more, there is a need for highly precise manufacturing techniques that allow engineers and product designers to consistently create highly accurate, small-scale parts.
Micro-3D printing offers the ultra-high precision, resolution, and accuracy that’s often needed to move these industries forward. We’ve seen the benefits of micro 3D printing in custom dental solutions, miniaturized surgical instruments that widen the availability of minimally invasive surgeries, and electronics, but these high-precision solutions are also advancing industries in other ways, such as in pharmaceutical research and development (R&D). In fact, the National Center for Biotechnology Information says that the number of scientific papers recorded in the Web of Science Core Collection containing the terms “3D printing” or “3D printed” increased from 59 in 2012 to 1,573 in 2017, which highlights the growing interested in utilizing 3D printing in pharmaceutical and biotechnology research applications.
Pharma, meet 3D printing
The pharmaceutical industry can benefit from the use of 3D printing in both clinical and research settings. As medical technology and healthcare devices become smaller and more complex to assemble, 3D printing can play a significant role in solving the challenges of achieving the small features and accuracy required for such parts. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 3D printing has been used in FDA-approved medical devices, biologics, and other pharmaceuticals due to the technology’s versatility, and other countries are also utilizing the technology in the medical and healthcare sectors. For instance, grant-funded researchers in the U.K. are developing a “3D printing toolkit” to guide pharma and biotech companies as they look to implement 3D printing into their processes.
Recently, micro 3D printing has propelled pharmaceutical research, particularly in developing microfluidic devices, such as lab-on-a-chip and organ-on-a-chip platforms. These devices, challenging to produce with other methods due to the small scale and specificity required, are often used for testing the efficacy and toxicity of new drugs and cosmetics on human tissues before clinical trials. They offer a closer representation of human biology than traditional 2D models, potentially predicting human drug responses more accurately and more efficiently.
Manufacturing precision microfluidic devices
Micro 3D printing creates these on-a-chip platforms with distinctive features, such as micro-channel networks with micron-level features mimicking blood vessels. These networks ensure efficient nutrient delivery and waste removal throughout the chip, enabling the comprehensive replication of human tissues on a large scale which can help advance drug discovery and development. It also holds the potential to yield more precise testing results and compound sensitivity compared to traditional models, like 2D cell culture and animal models.
The high precision and accuracy of micro-3D printing processes allow pharmaceutical researchers to build customized microfluidic devices that work for their specific testing needs. With the ability to create unlimited on-a-chip devices during the R&D process, pharmaceutical researchers can conduct non-invasive testing before ever reaching clinical trials, empowering them with the tools to translate scientific discoveries into tangible solutions.
Rapidly advancing research across modalities
Pharmaceutical companies can use 3D-printed microfluidic devices to enhance research across a number of modalities including disease modeling, tissue engineering, drug efficacy, drug safety, and even advancing healthcare toward precision medicine. In fact, researchers have consistently created robust tissue models, including tumors, kidneys, and skin for cosmetic and drug efficacy research, which illustrates the versatility of organ-on-a-chip platforms for life sciences research. Through collaboration with scientists and industry partners around the world, researchers have developed tissue models to help scientists better understand complex diseases, such as liver disease, heart disease, lung cancer, and endometrial cancer.
Micro 3D printing has been invaluable for the personalization of complex treatments from medical devices to pharmaceuticals, but beyond medical devices, large healthcare and pharmaceutical companies are researching the ways that 3D printing can be used for next-generation drug development, like biomedicines, or personalized surgical techniques, like bone grafts. As patient-centric trends grow, 3D printing will likely rise for pharma R&D. Not only does 3D printing allow for the customization of pharmaceuticals and other medical treatments, but it can be a cost-effective solution for the manufacturing of small batches for specialized treatments or single-use devices.
Looking ahead: the role of 3D printing in pharma R&D
In many instances, 3D printing has already impacted pharma and biotechnology research. In fact, according to the National Library of Medicine, 3D printing has become one of the most revolutionary and powerful tools for the precise manufacturing of individually developed dosage forms, tissue engineering, and disease modeling.
However, as technology begins to play a more significant role in the industry, a near-term challenge will be adopting standard validation procedures and overcoming regulatory hurdles. To solve these challenges, there must be a collaborative effort among researchers, industry stakeholders, and regulatory bodies. Creating this dialogue will be an integral part of propelling innovation and unlocking the full potential for on-a-chip technology that can have a direct impact on human health and safety.
As 3D printing technology continues to aid innovation across industries, it’s likely to take on a larger role in pharma R&D, too. From better understanding complex diseases to driving transformative advancements in drug discovery to helping the industry take a collective step toward precision medicine, the technology can help pharma companies deliver lifesaving therapies to patients as quickly as possible.