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FDA Approves First 3D-Printed Drug Tablet

Posted by Soulskill on from the will-take-seven-hours-per-pill dept.

An anonymous reader writes: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has for the first time approved a 3D-printed pill for human consumption. The printing technique allows higher and more precise dosages to be layered into a smaller tablet size. This is an early step toward a new method of drug distribution. Right now, pills are made in a factory and shipped to hospitals. With 3D printers, hospitals could simply store a bulk supply of the drug in a pure form, and then print out tablets — containing whatever dosage they desire — as they need them. If patients needs to increase or decrease their dosage, the hospital can do so without changing the appearance of the pills, which could help those with memory impairments.

64 comments

  1. Not going to move the needle. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The technology to create bespoke pills exists already, major barriers to hospitals incorporating compounding pharmacies today include cost, regulations, and liability, none of which are addressed by this technology.

    1. Re:Not going to move the needle. by dywolf · · Score: 1

      mod up

      --
      The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
    2. Re:Not going to move the needle. by azcoyote · · Score: 1

      Good point. (I have no mod points so actual human conversation is the only way to show my appreciation right now, sorry.)

      --
      Incipiamus, fratres, servire Domino Deo, quia hucusque vix vel parum in nullo profecimus.
    3. Re:Not going to move the needle. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Equating a post to Slashdot with "actual human conversation". Genius.

    4. Re:Not going to move the needle. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yes but 3D printing. End of discussion. If you are not 100% on-board the 3D revolution, you are a Luddite.

      It's sad to see the desperate grasping at straws the 3D printing fanbois have to resort to these days. 3D printing is a solidly entrenched hobby. No great social upheaval has happened because of it.

    5. Re:Not going to move the needle. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How is it not?

    6. Re:Not going to move the needle. by Penguinisto · · Score: 4, Informative

      Actually, those aren't impossible hurdles.

      cost would likely be way less than some of what a hospital buys (e.g. a CT machine), and it could pay for itself over time like any other machine - amortization is your friend in that department. Liability is handled as well, since hospitals (and even their in-house pharmacies in particular) often have to insure against potential drug-related liabilities anyway (misdiagnosis, mislabeling, adverse drug interactions, improper storage procedures, etc).

      Now *regulations* are gonna be the big hurdle... no idea what the FDA (or non-US equivalents) are going to demand, but if you think about it, there isn't much difference between this technology and what a pharmacy does right now with compounding, save for the 'on a computer' aspect (well, machinery too, but you get the idea).

      --
      Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    7. Re:Not going to move the needle. by sjames · · Score: 1

      That's just it, it's NOT much different than conventional compounding, so what's the big attraction? It will have the same regulatory problems, the same liabilities, etc. But it WILL cost more and add complexity, so there's that in it's "favor".

    8. Re:Not going to move the needle. by bondsbw · · Score: 1

      One major difference is that insurers are reducing coverage of compounding or compounding ingredients.

      --
      All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
    9. Re:Not going to move the needle. by Dragonslicer · · Score: 2

      That's just it, it's NOT much different than conventional compounding, so what's the big attraction? It will have the same regulatory problems, the same liabilities, etc. But it WILL cost more and add complexity, so there's that in it's "favor".

      The key question is the reliability and accuracy of this printing method. If there are fewer mistakes with this method than there are with current methods, the liability problem should decrease.

    10. Re:Not going to move the needle. by Rich0 · · Score: 1

      Liability is handled as well, since hospitals (and even their in-house pharmacies in particular) often have to insure against potential drug-related liabilities anyway (misdiagnosis, mislabeling, adverse drug interactions, improper storage procedures, etc).

      There are a lot of things that can go wrong when manufacturing a pill beyond what goes wrong when you administer a pill. When you make an allergy pill after having made a super-strong heart medication, will the recipient of the allergy pill get their heart slowed down as an added bonus due to cross-contamination?

      Also, there are also a lot more storage restrictions on the ingredients that go into pills than on the pills themselves. The pills contain antioxidants, preservatives, antimicrobials, and so on, and are tested as formulated to withstand variations in storage conditions similar to what a typical consumer would subject them to. The raw materials are often expected to be stored in very controlled and ideal conditions (not exposed to air, protected from light, kept at a specific temperature (which might be -70C), kept at a specific humidity (not too dry, not too wet), and so on. Since those raw materials cost millions to make at manufacturing scale anyway, the cost to store or even ship them at optimal conditions isn't a huge expense.

      Then when manufacturing equipment is done being used and is cleaned out there is often analytical testing done to demonstrate that no residue remains on the equipment. This is done EVERY time the equipment is used. The tablets that are manufactured are also sampled and tested to ensure proper quality. Some of those tests can take a month to perform (like sterility testing - filter the IV fluid through a filter, then put the filter in growth media, and give anything that was caught by the filter plenty of time to grow).

      I'm not saying these are insurmountable obstacles. However, printing tablets is unlikely to be just like loading up your inject printer with a few cartridges and hitting print. Compounding pharmacies today are being scrutinized very closely because there have been some high-profile lapses in quality.

    11. Re:Not going to move the needle. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I for one welcome our indistiguisable dosage drug dispensing overlords.

    12. Re:Not going to move the needle. by Psion · · Score: 1

      "No great social upheaval has happened because of it."

      I remember my boss saying something similar about micro computers in 1980. Probably something similar was said about electricity once or twice, too.

    13. Re:Not going to move the needle. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Delivering drugs to the right place at the right time is a real problem. 3D printing could combine chemistry with time- & space-based delivery mechanisms that are far more precise than with current methods.

      "OK, maybe an airplane can carry one man, but surely not two."

    14. Re:Not going to move the needle. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > That's just it, it's NOT much different than conventional compounding, so what's the big attraction?

      Combining tiny machines with drugs is one big attraction.

  2. Change the dosage without changing looks... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    what could go wrong? Is this my high dose or low dose, oh well, better take two just to make sure!

    1. Re:Change the dosage without changing looks... by DickBreath · · Score: 1
      Yeah, I was coming here to say something very similar.

      From TFA . . .

      If patients needs to increase or decrease their dosage, the hospital can do so without changing the appearance of the pills, which could help those with memory impairments.

      I can think of other applications for changing someone's dose without them being aware of it. In fact, you could slip them a custom printed pill that looks just like the rest of the pills in their bottle.

      Extra Credit: consider the implications of custom 3D printing Drug A in Drug B's clothing. (Pill for Drug A looks like it is a pill for Drug B.)

      We won't even talk about illegal pills that look like they are legal pills. Officer, that is just a bottle of tylenol.

      Someone could also take placebos that look just like the real thing.

      But don't stop there. Maybe you print a pill so that it looks like a piece of candy.

      --

      I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
    2. Re:Change the dosage without changing looks... by DickBreath · · Score: 1

      Congress should pass a law mandating that all pills must now look exactly the same. The Pill Uniformity Act of 2016.

      --

      I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
    3. Re:Change the dosage without changing looks... by Dragonslicer · · Score: 2

      I can think of other applications for changing someone's dose without them being aware of it. In fact, you could slip them a custom printed pill that looks just like the rest of the pills in their bottle. Extra Credit: consider the implications of custom 3D printing Drug A in Drug B's clothing. (Pill for Drug A looks like it is a pill for Drug B.)

      Your unstated assumption is that access to these printers is the only thing stopping people from doing illegal things like murdering a patient in a hospital. I am not convinced that your assumption is correct.

    4. Re:Change the dosage without changing looks... by dtml-try+MyNick · · Score: 2

      I work with elder mentally disabled patients and chances in medication can be quite stressful for them. "I ALWAYS have two of those pills, why do I need to take three pills now?" or "This does not look like the medication I usually get, I don't trust this, I'm not taking this!"

      It confuses them and at times it can be quite a struggle to get them accustomed to a new medication schedule. So I can see the advantage of changing the dose without changing the appearance or quantity of the pills.

      However, even though that can be very annoying I'm more worried about me being able to quick and clearly tell the difference in pills and dosage.....

      --
      Life starts at the end of your comfort zone.
    5. Re:Change the dosage without changing looks... by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      or "This does not look like the medication I usually get, I don't trust this, I'm not taking this!"

      On the other hand, the visible features of a pill are often the only way to differentiate between different doses or different medications. That's why the Physician's Desk Reference often has pictures of the pills.

      It's a SAFETY feature. Your elderly patients are quite right to question the look of the medications they are being given. It is not unheard of for pharmacists or nurses to make mistakes and hand out the wrong pills. ANY patient is right to question.

      This idea that you can trick people into taking the medicine by making it look just like something they are used to taking is absolutely pathetic. The fact that nobody will be able to tell the difference between a 5mg dose of something and a 50mg dose could kill someone. It will have nurses who distribute meds saying "it's in your medication cup, it must be for you and it must be the right thing". Or someone will put the wrong thing in the med dispenser cart because it looks the same ...

      However, even though that can be very annoying I'm more worried about me being able to quick and clearly tell the difference in pills and dosage.....

      It is right for you to worry, but if you screw up the worst that happens to you is you lose your job at that facility and you have to go work at another one. For the patient it can be deadly.

      This is really no different than a compounding pharmacy. The claim that insurance has stopped paying for compounding should be a death knell for this idea, too. Why would they pay for a machine to dole out the specific amount of a bulk med when they won't pay for a machine to dole out the specific amount of a bulk med? That's right, compounding pharmacies were already using automation to create their products. What's the difference, again? "With a computer"? Feh.

    6. Re:Change the dosage without changing looks... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I can think of other applications for changing someone's dose without them being aware of it. In fact, you could slip them a custom printed pill that looks just like the rest of the pills in their bottle.

      That seems like a lot of work when you could just slip it in because they're not going to pay attention anyways. They're in a hospital, they have no reason to worry about being murdered.

      Extra Credit: consider the implications of custom 3D printing Drug A in Drug B's clothing. (Pill for Drug A looks like it is a pill for Drug B.)

      Again, that seems like a lot of work when you could just slip it in or lace it..

      But don't stop there. Maybe you print a pill so that it looks like a piece of candy.

      Or you could lace a piece of candy and save yourself a few hundred dollars.

        LOL come on, you're acting like hospitals are filled with killers taking missions from an evil imaginary Bosley.

  3. Precision by invictusvoyd · · Score: 2

    The printing technique allows higher and more precise dosages to be layered into a smaller tablet size.

    Are we talking 0.1 mg precision here? because I seriously doubt dosage is calculated in fractions of milligrams . It is usually calculated in mg/kg of body weight. Besides, wont it be slower to print than to stock ? I imagine printing 100 doses .

    1. Re:Precision by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Levothyroxine as well as many other drugs are dosed in micrograms not milligrams. It is not uncommon to see dosages of 25/50mcg

    2. Re:Precision by Rich0 · · Score: 2

      This article was remarkably sparse on details, but I suspect that this is part of some huge manufacturing process analogous to 3D printing, done on an industrial scale. So, the tablets might be built in layers 10,000 at a time over a timespan of a minute or two, or something like that.

      It seems like this short article is really two shorter articles in one. There is the specific product approval, which I suspect is for large scale manufacture (but I'm not certain of that), and then some general speculation about some in-the-hospital technology.

      Also, the summary speaks of making tablets identical so that patients aren't confused. That seems a bit odd to me since the whole point of making pills look different is so that patients aren't confused. I know somebody who is on numerous medications and when they spill their pill organizer it is quite a task to try to sort things out and get them right again, since pills are hard enough to tell apart as it is.

      You could argue that this technology would let you make 1 super-pill tailored to the individual that they could take once a day and not have to take 14 different medications. That makes sense on paper, but in reality from talking to people who take lots of pills many of them end up tweaking their schedules. They'll take some pills before eating, others after, some at different times, they might split some and take them at multiple times instead of once. While I'm sure there isn't clinical data to back this up, when it comes down to individuals sometimes there is a need for flexibility. True, many patients abuse this flexibility to their detriment, but if these patients were given the choice of a take-it-or-leave-it super pill I suspect most would take it, and the first time they get a stomach ache or a leg cramp or whatever they'd just stop taking it.

    3. Re:Precision by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are we talking 0.1 mg precision here? because I seriously doubt dosage is calculated in fractions of milligrams .

      You would be surprised, I know of several drugs whose dosages are measured in micrograms. Thyroid medication for example.

    4. Re:Precision by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yup.

      In addition, it is sometimes necessary to take a standard dose (25) and split it, then take standard+half.

      Done that for two years... Now increased to 50mg. I'm expecting the next increase to be 65mg - which will be a 50+ 1/2 25. It gets to be a real pain.

      Fortunately, slightly off sizes when splitting are not too much of a problem.

    5. Re:Precision by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How do you take 50mg of thyroxine and live? 50mcg yes, 50mg not so much so. (I know it was just a typo but it would be a deadly type to put into a custom pill)

    6. Re:Precision by DickBreath · · Score: 2

      > You could argue that this technology would let you make 1 super-pill tailored to the individual

      All the drugs a person needs. Maybe a custom morning pill, and evening pill.

      Next advance: custom print the pills at home using a device you pick up at your pharmacy. Your doctor remotely updates your prescription.

      Next advance: hackers remotely update your prescription.

      --

      I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
    7. Re:Precision by ThurstonMoore · · Score: 1

      Lots of drugs are dosed in micrograms. Clonidine, fentanyl clonazepam and LSD, just to name a few.

    8. Re:Precision by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Well, I did not RTFA and don't plan to, but it seems to me that if you're creating bespoke pills for people, and you're expecting people to take all of those pills, what you should do is create packets of pills which are all in the same color scheme which is always the same for that patient. I imagine sort of miniature Easter egg-like pills with very distinctive character and with patterns appropriate to the patient, taking into account colorblindness and the like. Perhaps it would even be possible to give them distinctive textures for the blind, although I picture that causing pills to have a greater tendency to lodge in place. I imagine, though, that there's someone out there with a magical new pill coating to handle just such a case...

      Obviously the pills should then be printed with serial numbers so that they can be identified with more precision, but lots of people can't read numbers that small without assistance so the focus should really be on distinctive color combinations.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    9. Re:Precision by businessnerd · · Score: 1

      I agree this article was light on details and heavy on speculation. I read a more complete article yesterday regarding this. The benefit realized by 3D printing the tablet as opposed to standard tablet manufacturing is, yes, the precision dosing, but also the specific layering technique the 3D printing enables. They are able to stack alternating layers of active ingredient and inactive ingredient in a very precise fashion. This allows the drug to be dissolved and absorbed MUCH more rapidly than if it was manufactured using standard methods. Since this is for an epilipsy drug, this is a major advantage over competing drugs.

      I think the more immediate changes are going to be that more and more manufacturers will take advantage of 3D printing, and not just as a way to reduce costs, but as a way to make drugs we weren't able to before. While printing custom dosages for each patient sounds great, there are still a lot of regulatory hurdles, since the majority of drugs are approved one dose at a time. There is some precedence though with things like radioactive pellets (for cancer treatment), which are often custom ordered, but those are regulated as medical devices, not pharmaceuticals. Even still, I would thing the custom dosing would really just be a range of specific dosages that a prescriber can choose from to have printed and the manufacturer would have to gain approval for each dosing and being able show clearly when and for whom each dose should be used.

      --
      "It's not whether you win or lose, it's how drunk you get." -- H. J. Simpson
    10. Re:Precision by darkmeridian · · Score: 1

      The major advantage here appears to be how quickly the pill dissolves compared to standard drugs. The 3D printing allows the structure to be built precisely without compressing the drug and binder. Thus, it can dissolve faster.

      http://www.businessinsider.com...

      --
      A NYC lawyer blogs. http://www.chuangblog.com/
  4. Not AI killer robots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Isn't this one of those "what could possibly go wrong" moments?
    Not saying that it is a massive problem, but when custom printing pills, wouldn't it be necessary to measure the end result in some way. It would suck pretty hard if a hickup caused a lethal dose to be printed.

    1. Re:Not AI killer robots by FranTaylor · · Score: 1

      Isn't this one of those "what could possibly go wrong" moments?
      Not saying that it is a massive problem, but when custom printing pills, wouldn't it be necessary to measure the end result in some way. It would suck pretty hard if a hickup caused a lethal dose to be printed.

      robots hiccup a lot less often than people do

  5. It needs to have visible mark with the dose by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think it may be a problem when a dosage is not visible on the pill.
    Usually the pill sits in a blister and is easily recognized by the blister and after unpacking by the color and size.
    Now we will have more confusion if the pills mix up. It is possible to switch dosage by mistake...

    1. Re:It needs to have visible mark with the dose by Penguinisto · · Score: 1

      That happens right now with alarming regularity... at least for patients of the Veterans' Administration medical system. Such pharmacies often buy from different suppliers, and oftentimes the size, shape, and even color of the pill will change over time - you only find out when you open the bottle.

      --
      Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
  6. Just skimmed the article by LaurenCates · · Score: 1

    Maybe I've got a head in the clouds as I've neither been a food or drug engineer in my life, but I kind of wonder how this would be applied.

    Like, if you have a 3D printer that prints several different types of tablets, would pharmacists need to add yet another label to prescriptions that says "this drug manufactured in a plant that also processes x, y and z". (I really don't know the difference between compounding and 3D printing, but I imagine printing would need more rigorous cleaning standards in order to make something like this work.)

    Would it eventually be moved into pharmacist labs or hospitals so that customization is closer to the patient, or is it considerably safer to have only the drug manufacturer do this?

    Would this really catch on? There's cost and quality assurance standards to meet, and why change a system that works relatively well now (I don't really hear a lot about problems with the pharma industry; of course this just means I don't know where to look if those problems actually exist).

    Anyway, these are my passing thoughts on this. I try not to be cynical and dismiss this sort of thing as an industry trying on a passing fad, because, you never know.

    --
    Some people don't believe in fairies. I don't believe in The Patriarchy.
    1. Re:Just skimmed the article by Penguinisto · · Score: 1

      Pretty sure you'd have to sterilize the thing before and after each run...

      I believe many pharmaceutical factories do something similar (albeit on much larger scales) where they manufacture many different drugs at a given site. Plus, when they switch out products on a given line, I'm sure there's protocols for that too (though to be fair, that probably happens far less often than this 3D-printing thing would see).

      --
      Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    2. Re:Just skimmed the article by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      I would imagine using a different extruder head (or whatever it is) for each compound. Then there's nothing to clean between compounds, because it's always the same compound going through the same extruder.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    3. Re:Just skimmed the article by LaurenCates · · Score: 1

      This is the sort of thing I'd hope for.

      It's one thing to blend colors because you've switched out your filament. It's quite another to blend prescription medications with (and to) nasty side effects.

      --
      Some people don't believe in fairies. I don't believe in The Patriarchy.
  7. Same looking pills by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "If patients needs to increase or decrease their dosage, the hospital can do so without changing the appearance of the pills, which could help those with memory impairments."

    This is a really bad idea. Different dosages need to have different appearances lest you take the wrong dosage. Take 2x the medication can go from beneficial to deadly. Heck I have seen increases of 20% become really bad for patients. There is a reason why medications have different appearances. So long as this is limited to hospitals where there is a nurse overseeing the application it is fine. It should not ever be extended tot he home where someone can become confused and miss-dose themselves it will lead to a massive liability suit.

  8. Optimum pill size by bickerdyke · · Score: 1

    Besides the already mentioned

    If patients needs to increase or decrease their dosage, the hospital can do so without changing the appearance of the pills,

    translating to it's not possible to know a pills's dosage from their appearance, there is also smaller pills mentioned in the summary.

    While I agree that the standard size gelatin capsule is hard to swallow sometimes, there is also a minimum size. The pill should still be large enough that it can be handled by elderly people and moved from the storage to hand to mouth without dropping it to the floor twice. Whoever had the joy of switching nano sims in your phone while traveling internationally (optional. waiting at some airport gate without even a proper table) knows what I'm talking about.

    yes of course that's more complicated than swallowing a pill, but that's why pills could be sized smaller than a sim card.

    --
    bickerdyke
  9. The real purpose? by mark_reh · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Vicodin used to be hydrocodone/APAP 5/325 until the FDA said that the APAP portion should be lowered to 300 mg. So Vicodin gets reformulated to 5/300 and the price goes up. If I follow FDA guidelines and write a prescription for hydrocodone/APAP 5/300 my patient has a substantial out of pocket cost because the pharmacy has to give them name brand Vicodin. If I write the prescription for 5/325, they can use generic which insurance covers fully, or if they are uninsured costs $5-10.

    I suspect that the repackaging has more to do with maintaining the high price than the performance of the medication when packaged by a 3D printer.

    1. Re:The real purpose? by Rich0 · · Score: 1

      Of course, the only purpose of the APAP in this medication is to kill the patient if they dare to abuse it.

      There is no reason that the two couldn't be unbundled so that the doctor and patient could work together to ensure that just the right amount of each is administered (likely zero on the APAP front, but the doctor can prescribe it if appropriate). This is just prohibition-style thinking, just like sticking strychnine in industrial alcohol.

    2. Re:The real purpose? by jfengel · · Score: 1

      I don't get it. Wouldn't the FDA's requirement apply to the generics manufacturers as well?

      Is this just about the period where they've got a bunch of 5/325 on hand that they can't get rid of when docs start writing scripts for 5/300? I wouldn't have expected it to be that big of a problem.

    3. Re:The real purpose? by mark_reh · · Score: 1

      See http://www.philly.com/philly/b...

    4. Re:The real purpose? by jfengel · · Score: 1

      I'm having a bit of trouble following the article. There are a few clear editing errors ("Why not create a generic with only 300 mg of acetaminophen, unlike the generics?"), so I don't think it's just me.

      As far as I can tell, it sounds like some kind of patent/regulation thing that prevents the generics makers from making 5/300. Or at least it used to be; another sentence says "Other manufacturers have jumped on the bandwagon since then so the 300 mg product is now generic." So I'm not quite sure why the presence of generics hasn't forced the price down, except for the usual "because they can".

  10. Price increase excuse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It sounds to me like this is an exercise in finding new ways to jack drug prices up even more. Instead of hospitals charging $5 a pill to take it out of the jar and put it in the little cup, it would become a $100 "manufactured custom medication" charge. Besides having identical pills with different dosages is just plain stupid. I can easily see someone taking 125mg, instead getting the 500mg tablet that is supposed to go to the patient in the next bed.

  11. More bad than good. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Having multiple doses with the same appearance - that's going to create a lot more problems than it solves.

    1. Re:More bad than good. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No. 3D printing solves all problems. Everytime. You are a Luddite if you do not agree.

    2. Re:More bad than good. by DickBreath · · Score: 1

      This does not solve ALL problems.

      For that you need Congress.

      The Pill Uniformity Act of 2016. Henceforth all pills must have identical appearance. That way it becomes easier and unmistakable to identify whether something is a pill or just a piece of 3D printed candy.

      --

      I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
  12. The real problem is security. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If Windows is used for the control platform, how could you trust your life to it?

  13. terrible idea by BenBoy · · Score: 1

    If patients needs to increase or decrease their dosage, the hospital can do so without changing the appearance of the pills

    I've overseen family members' hospital stays, making sure that, among other things, drugs and dosages delivered by staff are correct. They aren't correct more frequently than I'd like. This'd make it impossible to tell. Fail.

    1. Re:terrible idea by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      They aren't correct more frequently than I'd like. This'd make it impossible to tell. Fail.

      The failure is one of your imagination. If the pills were serialized and came accompanied by a printout of what was in them, then you'd have just as much assurance as you do now that the pills are what they say they are.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:terrible idea by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      If the pills were serialized

      A SERIAL NUMBER on each pill?

      and came accompanied by a printout of what was in them

      "Here's your daily pill Mr. Poo and here are the MSDS sheets for what's in it and here's the certificate of authenticity."

      then you'd have just as much assurance as you do now that the pills are what they say they are.

      If I have a question about what a pill is, right now I can go to the PDR or any number of other references, or go online to find a picture of what it looks like. Once you start handing out 3D printed versions you have no visual clue that what you are holding is NOT the right thing. It won't take old Mr. Gower very long to send little George Bailey out with the wrong thing ...

    3. Re:terrible idea by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      then you'd have just as much assurance as you do now that the pills are what they say they are.

      If I have a question about what a pill is, right now I can go to the PDR or any number of other references, or go online to find a picture of what it looks like.

      And you're taking it on faith that the pill was made correctly, when it often wasn't. So what's going to change?

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    4. Re:terrible idea by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      And you're taking it on faith that the pill was made correctly, when it often wasn't.

      Citation required. "Often" is a bit of hyperbole. Maybe a lot of hyperbole. Manufacturers of pills have quality control systems that verify the output of their pill mills, and if they aren't right the entire batch is dumped. The mistakes take place much more often long after the pill is put in the bottle, by the guy taking the wrong bottle off the shelf. When that happens, what the pill looks like is the only verification the patient has.

      Who checks the validity of a hospital's 3D pill printer?

    5. Re:terrible idea by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Citation required. "Often" is a bit of hyperbole. Maybe a lot of hyperbole. Manufacturers of pills have quality control systems that verify the output of their pill mills, and if they aren't right the entire batch is dumped.

      Or maybe it's not a lot of hyperbole. Maybe drug companies don't actually take as much care as you think they do. Maybe you're just making unfounded assumptions because they make you feel better.

      The truth is that there isn't a recall every time a defective drug is found; and there is no reason to believe that every defect is detected. The drug manufacturers do not take the care that you think they do; at best, some of them do.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  14. Re:The real porpoise? by DickBreath · · Score: 1

    After you visit the doctor, but before you visit the pharmicist, you visit a pill fashion consultant that helps you select the right pill size, shape, taste and colors, even custom color designs that are just right for you.

    3D printed pills could create a whole new pill fashion industry.

    --

    I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
  15. Maybe Not by JimSadler · · Score: 1

    Just how could a hospital have enough machine time availability to 3d print medications? 3d printing is not a fast process and once a machine is set up they would need to make quite a few pills before cleaning up the unit and running a program to produce a different mediation. Imagine how slow it would be if the machine printed one tablet and then had to have a clean up and switch supplies to print a different tablet. Considering the large number of different pills used daily in a hospital we might be looking at more than one 3d printer needed for each patient in the hospital. And they would still need medications for instant use in the ER or for patients who crash while in their rooms.

  16. My granny ... by golodh · · Score: 1
    Well, yes and no.

    On the one hand, my granny was an apothecary, and I've seen custom pills, powders, tinctures, and syrups being made about 40 years ago. So, yes, the idea (custom dosages) is anything but new.

    However I appreciate that labour costs make that sort of thing (customised dosing) infeasible today (except for millionares).

    As such I recognise that having a cupboard-size machine that reliably produces dozens of pills in non-standard dosages may well make it economically feasible (again) to administer individually dosed medication to patients.

    It has a much more mundane application too. It could also be used to cut down on the number of pills that patients have to be fed. That's a cost-saver right there. Just consider some elderly patient suffering from a heart condition, and diabetes. They might require as many as 5-6 different pills three to four times a day in different combinations throughout the day.

    I've seen nurses prepare a week's worth of pills for people in pill dispensers where you have one dispenser for each day and 4 sections to each dispenser). Filling boxes with 7 x 4 x 5 = 140 pills is a time-consuming chore I can tell you, and you really don't want to make sloppy mistakes filling those dispensers. Now imagine having to dose a ward of 20 patients.

    Of course the 3D printing part is bit of a gimmic but it probably makes it cost-efficient to produce accurately dosed customised pills (customised as in all 5 or 6 ingredients put together in 1 pill) pills in series of under 20. Put 'em in boxes with a name and a barcode and you're ready to roll.

    The nursing staff will love it, elderly patients will probably find it convenient, and insurers will probably like it too because it's efficient and hence drives down the cost of nursing staff.

    Simple and unassuming as it is I can definitely see it becoming entrenched over the next 5-10 years for that reason alone.

  17. food by foods+ideas · · Score: 1

    healthy food ideas - http://foodsideas.com/healthy-... | Quick food ideas - http://foodsideas.com/quick-fo...