3D Printing of Pharmaceutical Application: Drug Screening and Drug Delivery

Abstract

Advances in three-dimensional (3D) printing techniques and the development of tailored biomaterials have facilitated the precise fabrication of biological components and complex 3D geometrics over the past few decades. Moreover, the notable growth of 3D printing has facilitated pharmaceutical applications, enabling the development of customized drug screening and drug delivery systems for individual patients, breaking away from conventional approaches that primarily rely on transgenic animal experiments and mass production. This review provides an extensive overview of 3D printing research applied to drug screening and drug delivery systems that represent pharmaceutical applications. We classify several elements required by each application for advanced pharmaceutical techniques and briefly describe state-of-the-art 3D printing technology consisting of cells, bioinks, and printing strategies that satisfy requirements. Furthermore, we discuss the limitations of traditional approaches by providing concrete examples of drug screening (organoid, organ-on-a-chip, and tissue/organ equivalent) and drug delivery systems (oral/vaginal/rectal and transdermal/surgical drug delivery), followed by the introduction of recent pharmaceutical investigations using 3D printing-based strategies to overcome these challenges.

Unraveling the mystery of efficacy in Chinese medicine formula: New approaches and technologies for research on pharmacodynamic substances

“…The specific research methods were also diversified. In Xiling Jiedu Capsule’s study ( Gao et al, 2021 ), UPLC-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF/MS) combined with compositional data mining used to identify the chemical components and 145 compounds were identified. Similarly, a combination of UPLC-Q-Orbitrap and UPLC-MS/MS were used to identification and determination of compounds in Tangshen formula ( Wang et al, 2021d ).…”

“…In the future, 3D bioprinting-based in vitro drug evolution approaches will fall into three categories: mini-tissues, monolithic organs, and tissue/organ constructs. 3D bioprinting is currently widely used in liver models, heart tissues, vascularized constructs, and cancer models to fully contribute to drug discovery, toxicology, and other preclinical studies in TCM research ( Nie et al, 2020 , Gao et al, 2021 , Deng et al, 2020 ) ( Fig.8 ).

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Impresión de medicamentos en 3D en población geriátrica: Una mirada al futuro

“…Los pacientes que usualmente cursan con polifarmacia son aquellos que poseen multimorbilidad, esta es definida por la existencia de dos o más condiciones de salud crónicas, más común en la población adulta mayor. La existencia de la multimorbilidad aumenta la complejidad durante el manejo terapéutico [19,20,21]. La polifarmacia es un fenómeno que conduce a una mayor mortalidad, recaídas, exacerbaciones de condiciones patológicas, reacciones adversas a medicamentos, prolongación de estancia hospitalaria, así como reingreso al hospital poco después de su salida [20,22,23].…”

A naringin-derived bioink enhances the shape fidelity of 3D bioprinting and efficiency of cartilage defect repair

“…19 It may, however, be feasible that a type of natural flavonoid derived bioink can be developed to enhance the fidelity of 3D bioprinting and the bioavailability of natural flavonoids for medical applications, such as tissue engineering. 20,21 Compared with orally taken natural flavonoids in pill form, 22,23 3D bioprinting with a natural flavonoid derived bioink can deliver bioactive effects of the natural flavonoid directly to incorporated cells, through which the natural flavonoid may be efficiently utilized by the cells. Hence, natural flavonoid derived bioinks, which are named medical bioinks and regarded as a new class of bioinks, may be combined with the enhanced fidelity of 3D bioprinting for the local delivery of a natural flavonoid to encapsulated cells following 3D bioprinting.…”