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Patients take too many tablets daily, leading to poor outcomes associated with polypharmacy. There is a need for personalized on-demand poly-pills in patients who face problems of malabsorption, high pill burden and multiple supplementation.

Craft Health, an NUS GRIP Team supported by AM.NUS and NAMIC have developed Craft Blends™, a proprietary database of formulations made up of paste materials for 3D Printing. Active ingredients may be added to the Craft Blends™ for the desired release profile and render them to be 3D printable. Craft Health seeks to develop a 3D printing process for personalized tablets and conduct testing & validation of 3D printed tablets.

A 2-in-1 polypill consisting of Vitamin B3 and caffeine with two distinct release profiles, immediate release and sustained release respectively, were 3D printed as an initial proof of concept.

The 3D printing of personalized supplement or medicines is done using a paste extrusion 3D printer. Craft Health has demonstrated to be able to combine various active ingredients into a single pill, while still maintaining its own unique chemical structure and properties. The 3D printed tablet has equivalent, if not better properties such as dissolution profiles or hardness, as compared to existing commercial drug tablets.

The project has led to one patent filing and creation of a spin-off company (CRAFT HEALTH PTE LTD). Having received the NUS GRIP award in its inaugural run, the project team has since raised SGD 950,00 investment in their seed round to further develop and scale up their 3D printing platform for personalized nutrition and medicine.

Published on NAMIC Project Highlights: https://namic.sg/project-highlights/3d-printed-personalized-tablet-for-gastrointestinal-disorders/