A team of engineers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) has devised a 3D printing approach that could make personalized, multi-drug tablets a practical reality. The technique, developed by Assistant Professor Soh Siow Ling from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and PhD student Sun Yajuan, allows a single pill to contain several medications, each programmed to release at different times and doses.
The method is notable for its simplicity and affordability, addressing long-standing barriers that have kept personalized medicine largely theoretical. “For a long time, personalised medicine has been a mere concept as it was far too complex or expensive to be realised,” Soh said in a statement. He described the new tablet fabrication process as “technically simple, relatively inexpensive and versatile.”
Unlike conventional drug manufacturing, which often struggles with complex dosage requirements, this system uses a computer program to design a small, multi-pronged template. A doctor or pharmacist inputs the patient’s specific medication needs—what drugs, at what dose, and how often—and the software generates a model. That model is then sent to a 3D printer, which creates a mold. A liquid polymer mixed with the medication is poured into the mold, and the resulting structure is encased in additional polymer that controls when each segment dissolves in the body.
By altering the shape of the drug-containing polymer, the release rate can be finely tuned. For instance, a five-prong design would deliver the drug in five separate pulses over time, according to NUS. This flexibility means tablets can be customized to match a patient’s circadian rhythms or specific therapeutic needs.
From Bench to Bedside
The low cost and ease of the process make it adaptable for both hospital settings and large-scale production. “It can be applied at individualised settings where physicians could produce customised pills on the spot for patients, or in mass production settings by pharmaceutical companies,” Soh noted. As 3D printers become more affordable, the barrier to entry continues to drop.
The NUS team is already in discussions with a multinational corporation to commercialize the invention, with plans for further research and testing. The development builds on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s first approval of a 3D-printed pill last year, signaling a growing interest in additive manufacturing for pharmaceuticals.
While the technology is still in its early stages, the ability to combine multiple drugs into a single, precisely timed tablet could simplify treatment regimens for patients with complex conditions, potentially improving adherence and outcomes. However, no clinical data on the tablets’ performance in humans has been released yet, and the method has not yet received regulatory approval outside of the initial FDA milestone.
For now, the NUS research represents a proof of concept that brings personalized polypharmacy one step closer to everyday practice.
Engineers at the National University of Singapore have developed a simple, inexpensive 3D printing technique to produce single tablets containing multiple medications with tailored release schedules. The method, which uses a mold-based approach, could allow doctors to create personalized pills on demand and offers pharmaceutical companies a scalable manufacturing option.
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