Three-dimensional printers—well known in the US for dental use—now have a new medical approval: According to Reuters, the FDA gave 3-D print technology a nod for Spritam, a prescription epilepsy adjunct delivered orally. Manufactured by Aprecia Phamaceuticals, Spritam follows a delivery system customized to make premeasured patient-specific doses taken with water.
This is a first for the FDA. The idea behind the 3-D drug-manufacturing process is to create dosages specific to individual patients rather than following a one-size-fits-all approach, Wedbush securities analyst Tao Levy points out.
Reuters also noted that British scientists use 3-D printing technology to manufacture replica models of cancerous body parts in order to give oncologists optimal targets when zeroing in on tumors. The 3-D printing gives them personalized patient-specific information otherwise unavailable.
