Potential of 3D Printing in Pharmaceutical Drug Delivery and Manufacturing
Summary
This chapter focuses on the aspects of drug delivery and manufacturing by means of three-dimensional (3D) printing technology. It presents a short overview of pharmaceutical drug delivery and the areas where 3D printing is already playing a role or will do in the future. The chapter covers conventional manufacturing of drug delivery systems and where innovative approaches such as printing technologies can step in. It discusses the advances in the applications for drug delivery by means of 3D printing. The chapter also covers the instrumentations to enable 3D printing of pharmaceutical products. It focuses on the comparison of conventional and innovative manufacturing and other aspects to consider when using printing for pharmaceutical drug delivery. The chapter also discusses the technical components of 3D printing in pharmaceutical drug delivery. A computer-aided design software is needed in any case to prepare the 3D file for the subsequent printing process.