Using technology created at Purdue University, startup Pinpoint Pharma will soon be printing customized pet medicine.

A precision compounding pharmacy for veterinarians, Pinpoint Pharma has developed a printer that is faster than current methods for creating customized medicine. Opting for a customized approach to developing medications for pets instead of the traditional “one-size-fits-all” approach, Pinpoint Pharma developed a printer that is similar to an inkjet printer, yet capable of accurately dispensing medications.

"When a pet has a specific requirement as determined by their vet, we can dispense the exact amounts and ratios of active ingredients needed for a pill, in a form and flavor that the specific pet will love," said Arun Giridhar, Pinpoint Pharma's chief executive officer.

Developing such a device is an acknowledgment that a one-size-fits-all approach isn’t necessarily effective for all pets.

"Our medicine printer allows veterinarians to be very precise in serving an animal as an individual rather than as the average of a population," added Giridhar

Adding to that a device capable of customizing drugs at a faster and more precise rate than traditional production methods, Pinpoint Pharma cuts the production time of medications from over an hour to roughly a handful of minutes per patient.

"We can make about one dose every second, or even faster," Giridhar said.

The device is also capable of more precision thanks to a tracking mechanism that records the number of drops of medicine that have dispensed in each dose along with the volume of each drop.