Researchers from the U.K.’s University of East Anglia (UEA) and Loughborough University are exploring the use of 3D printing to manufacture custom medications for patients.

The team aims to create custom 3D-printed pills composed of highly porous structures for rapidly manufacturing oral medications that regulate the release of medication to the body.

According to the researchers, the development of 3D-printed porous pharmaceutical tablets could mean oral medications that deliver accurate dosages and drug combinations, tailored to a patient's needs and resulting in fewer side effects.

The new additive manufacturing approach — which allows for the rapid 3D printing of extremely porous tablet structures without having to transform medication into filaments ahead of 3D printing — could potentially be attractive to certain populations, such as the elderly, who take more than one medication each day, according to the team.

Currently, pharmaceutical manufacturing is a one-size-fits-all approach, wherein the medications manufactured consist of uniform delivery and dosages that may not be appropriate for everyone. As such, the team believes that changing the pore size of the tablets will enable the makers to regulate the speed of drug delivery according to individual patient's needs.

The study, "Effects of porosity on drug release kinetics of swellable and erodible porous pharmaceutical solid dosage forms fabricated by hot melt droplet deposition 3D printing," appears in the International Journal of Pharmaceutics.