Spritam, a drug developed Aprecia Pharmaceuticals and designed to control seizures brought on by epilepsy, has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, making it the first 3D printed medication in the world to receive the regulatory go-ahead for use.
According to BBC News, the company said that printing the drug will allow layers of medication to be more tightly packed together in precise dosages. Spritam is made with ZipDose 3D printing technology, which was developed by Aprecia to make high-dose pills easier to swallow.
As Gizmodo explains, Spritam tablets contain 1,000 milligrams of a common epilepsy treatment known as levetiracetam, but the ZipDose technology designs the pill to be extremely porous, and as soon as it meets liquid, it starts dissolving – allowing it to essentially melt in your mouth. The medication is expected to become available in the first quarter of next year.
Cheaper, easier way to create personalized medicine
Aprecia claims that it is the first and only pharmaceutical company to produce medicine using additive manufacturing methods on a commercial scale, the website noted. Using 3D printing to create these pills will allow for the creation of drugs based on a patient’s specific need instead of creating a one-size-fits-all medication, experts told BBC News.
“For the last 50 years, we have manufactured tablets in factories and shipped them to hospitals, and for the first time this process means we can produce tablets much closer to the patient,” Dr. Mohamed Albed Alhnan, a lecturer in pharmaceutics at the University of Central Lancashire in the UK, told the British news organization on Tuesday.
This advance would make it possible for medical and healthcare facilities to alter doses on a patient-by-patient basis by making a simple adjustment to the software before the start of the printing process, Dr. Alhnan explained. Previously, personalized approaches to treatment like this would have been extremely costly to produce, he added.
“Spritam is designed to fill a need for patients who struggle with their current medication experience,” Don Wetherhold, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Aprecia, said in a statement. “This is the first in a line of central nervous system products Aprecia plans to introduce as part of our commitment to transform the way patients experience taking medication.”
(Image credit: Aprecia)
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