Researchers to explore 3D printing pills tailored for young patients
By DE Staff
Additive ManufacturingTexas A&M initiative funded by a $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.
Researchers at Texas A&M University announced a project to explore the use of 3D printing technology to produce customized pharmaceutics for pediatric patients.
The initiative stems from the fact that traditional pharmaceutical manufacturing produces pills with standardized dosages. While efficient, that process is inflexible, the researchers say, since children’s weights, and therefore dosage requirements, change rapidly, especially for pediatric oncology patients.
To address this, the Texas A&M research team says it plans to develop an additive manufacturing process that allows dosage and tablet size to be tailored for pediatric patients, while preserving the medication’s efficacy.
Funded by a US$3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the project is an interdisciplinary collaboration between Texas A&M’s College of Engineering, College of Pharmacy and School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
www.tamu.edu
