Pharmaceutical company Merck will start tablet 3D printing project

Leading technology and pharmaceutical company Merck (Merck) launched a pill3D printingThe goal of this project is to first develop a GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) tablet formulation and conduct clinical trial production, and then provide commercial production services.

Additive manufacturing of tablets will simplify and significantly speed up the production process, eliminating the need for expensive and time-consuming API restructuring. Source: Merck/EOS

based on3D printingNext generation pill production technology

The project was initiated by the Innovation Center at Merck’s headquarters in Germany. Merck’s3D printingThe technology partner is EOS and its sister company AMCM, which provides customized additive manufacturing solutions. Currently, the partners have signed a cooperation agreement.Merck initiated3D printingThe goal of pill technology is to develop3D printingIndustrial application of technology in manufacturing.The first is to3D printingThe technology is used in the clinical trial phase and then further developed to reach a complete digital solution on a commercial scale.

In this cooperation, Merck’s expertise in medicine and life sciences, and performance materials will be combined with EOS’s expertise in additive manufacturing to promote the flexible and rapid development of drugs.Through this partnership, Merck will melt through the powder bed3D printingThe technology realizes a novel and simplified drug clinical development process.3D printingThe technology can flexibly realize the formulation of scalable API (active drug development), avoiding expensive reformulations during the entire drug development and commercial production process. The direct benefit of achieving this goal is that tablet manufacturing becomes faster and cheaper. In addition to the above goals, the vision of this project is to achieve flexible and sustainable local production of tablets based on specific market needs and adapting to the needs of patients.

Review

3D printingThe use of technology in the manufacture of tablets is not a new topic. Prior to this, the pharmaceutical industry or scientific research institutions have carried out3D printingResearch on tablet manufacturing. , In 2015, Aprecia Pharmaceuticals produced the first3D printingTechnology produced tablets and obtained FDA approval.Two years later, the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline completed a study using inkjet3D printingAnd ultraviolet (UV) curing technology to produce tablets for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. With the application in controlled release, short-term drugs, and even the potential for on-site printing in pharmacies,3D printingThe ability of technology to transform the pharmaceutical industry continues to improve.[1]

Traditional pharmaceutical preparations are a trial-and-error method. Researchers who research preparations use constant trial and error to work out a corresponding proportion of pharmaceutical formulas, and then achieve a certain effect.Relevant experts believe that it is necessary to use3D printingTechnical drugs are mainly two types of drugs: one type is drugs that have some requirements for release, and the second type is compound preparations that are relatively more agile.Among them, in the field of pharmaceutical preparations, the main3D printingTechnologies include binder injection technology, material extrusion technology, and SLA.[1]

At Merck and EOS3D printingThe powder bed melting technology mentioned in the tablet cooperation project should be a powder bed3D printingSelected area laser sintering (SLS) technology in China. The School of Pharmacy, University of London has carried out SLS 3D printingIn the study of tablets, they used paracetamol as a drug model, mixed it with excipients to make powder materials, and then used SLS printers to produce tablets containing different doses of paracetamol.

If Merck is based on a powder bed in the future3D printingTechnology of tablet manufacturing applications can finally achieve commercial-scale applications, which will undoubtedly3D printingThe application of technology in the pharmaceutical industry has a positive impact.

(Editor in charge: admin)