CurfiyLabs has set its sight on introducing affordable 3D printing in drug manufacturing with the help of Natural Machines. The launch date is projected to be in the latter half of this year. CurifyLabs is a technology developer in the pharma industry while its partner, Natural Machines, is a food printing company.
With this CurifyLabs partnership with Natural Machines the two companies hope to manufacture medicine that is customized for patient needs.
The 3D-printed drugs will be part of a highly efficient and personalized process, allowing hospitals as well as pharmacies to receive the medicine at a faster rate than previously offered. This has been dubbed as the pharma-compliant system and CurifyLabs iterates that together with Natural Machines, they are developing the concept of medicine as a service through 3D printing of drugs.
The technology is the result of Finnish Niklas Sandler Topelius research project, developed at Åbo Akademi University. However, the companies have not made the specific technology they will use as public information yet. Broadly, the process involves automated compounding of the medicine which is the creation of customized drugs through mixing or altering.
Since CurifyLabs’ founding in 2020, it has reduced the manual compounding of medicine by over 70% and serves clients across multiple countries. On the other hand, Natural Machines has a different background with previous work in the market of customized edibles, as opposed to medicine formulation. The company’s precise system allows for the material for edibles to be printed into needed shape with significant accuracy.
Natural Machines’ Foodini, their flagship device, achieved this task.
The 3D printed drugs are not limited to human use but are also available for animals. In veterinary use, commonly medicine is split into pieces to adjust dosage, however, this becomes increasingly difficult and inaccurate with each split which this technology can prevent the need for. Furthermore, through the customized flavor, the taste of medicine can be masked for use in animal patients.
Bringing pharma compliant 3D printed drugs will allow for localized, rapid, and personalized drugs, down to flavor for both human and animal use, while also minimizing the potential human error that can exist in drug production.
Pakistani pharmaceutical researchers have seen success in the experimental use of 3D printing for antibiotics. The researchers were able to accomplish a release rate that was controllable by varying drug concentrations in the same-sized pills. They found that these customized drugs were able to positively affect the survival rates of patients.
In addition to the benefits for patients, frontline and pharmacy workers will also benefit due to the reduced need to be in contact with active ingredients and their associated toxic effects from overexposure.
The CurifyLabs & Natural Machines partnership aims to use 3D printing drug technology to reach patients that have found little success with current drugs, and help create customized medicines for their needs. Currently, the technology is being tested with commercial use by the companies expected in late 2022.
The technology has shown efficacy in trials and the partners hope that it will make its place in the personalized care industry.
Aprecia is another company bringing Drug 3d Printing Technology into 2022 with the creation of customized Spritam tablet through its ZipDose 3D printing.
FabRx, a user of additive pharmaceutical manufacturing, creates paracetamol through 3D printing; producing the customized drug within a few seconds for use in clinical settings.
