Printing in 7 seconds for rapid drug production|

A team of researchers at University College London has reported that a new 3D printing technique can print drugs in just seven seconds, a technique that enables rapid production of drugs.

"Photopolymerization" is the most dominant technology in 3D printing, it provides the highest resolution for micro-scale complexity, and because it does not require high temperatures, it is also suitable for many drugs. For printed drugs, the technology uses a resin formulation that dissolves the desired drug in a solution of photoreactive chemicals that are activated by light to cure the resin into a printed tablet. But because of the layer-by-layer method, the printing speed of photopolymerization technology is very slow.
In the new study, scientists have developed a new 3D printing technique that can print entire objects at once and reduce the printing speed from minutes to 7 to 17 seconds (depending on the resin composition chosen).

Scientists first used polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) as the cross-linking monomer, phenyl-2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl phosphite (LAP) as the photoinitiator, and acetaminophen ( paracetamol ) was evaluated for six resin formulations of model drugs. Water or PEG300 were used as diluents at various concentrations to facilitate drug release.

Scientists said that by changing the ratio of the photosensitive resin monomer to the diluent, the drug release rate of the photosensitive resin can be adjusted, and the lower the monomer to diluent ratio, the faster the drug release rate. They will further optimize the technology for rapid drug production.

The research paper, titled "Volumetric 3D printing for rapid production of medicines", has been published in Additive Manufacturing.