Printed Pills?

3D printed pills have the potential to transform healthcare for millions of Britons, developers have claimed.

08:43 28 March 2022

3D printed pills that contain several medications in tailored doses will soon become available, experts have confirmed. 

 

Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital has recently confirmed its plans to install a 3D printer to allow its in-house pharmacy to print personalised pills for everything - from cancer to statins - while patients wait. Scientists pioneering the technology say that it could potentially allow patients to print their own pills at home. 

 

Alvaro Goyanes, the UCL scientist behind the 3D printing breakthrough, said: “This could really be a game-changer for the pharmaceutical industry,” 

 

“Personalised 3D-printed medicines are evolving at a rapid pace. They are starting to reach the clinic for trials and in a best case scenario they could be used in the health service in three to five years.”

 

Steve Tomlin, Great Ormond Street Hospital’s chief pharmacist said: “I am already looking to put a 3D printer in the pharmacy at GOSH to support trials of use of 3D medicines. Knowledge of genetic differences in people’s responses to medicines (pharmacogenomics) means that we know that for many drugs one size does not fit all.”