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Phoenix666 writes:

By adapting a technology used to build electronic components, researchers at the University of Michigan have developed a new way to manufacture medication. The technique could eventually allow hospitals, pharmacies and doctor's offices to print drugs on demand, mixing different medications into one easy-to-administer dose.

[...] This latest technique was adapted from organic vapor-jet printing, a method of manufacturing electronics by depositing fine crystals of a material onto a substrate surface. To print their medication, the Michigan researchers heated a powdered form of the active pharmaceutical ingredient until it evaporated, where it then combines with a heated inert gas. That mixture is then funnelled through a nozzle and deposited onto a chilled surface, where it cools to form a thin crystalline film.

[...] In the long run, the technique could also allow medications to be mixed and matched, before being printed on-site in pharmacies and hospitals onto a delivery device like a dissolvable strip or microneedle patch.

[...] The research was published in the journal Nature Communications.

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