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from the is-there-anything-3d-printers-can't-make? dept.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given its first approval to a 3D-printed drug. Aprecia Pharmaceuticals has created a new version of Spritam (levetiracetam), a seizure medication, and it is expected to hit the market in Q1 2016:
The FDA had previously approved medical devices made with 3-D printing. The company that makes Spritam says the 3-D-printed version of the drug allows it to dissolve more quickly, which makes it easier to swallow.
Another benefit of the process, says Aprecia, the drug's maker, is that it allows a high drug load — up to 1,000 mg — to be delivered in a single dose. The 3-D printing process creates a pill that has "a porous formulation that rapidly disintegrates with a sip of liquid," the company says.
Aprecia says it based its printing platform on technology that originated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The FDA has previously approved 3D-printed medical devices, but no 3D-printed drugs. Levetiracetam is available as a generic medicine in the U.S. and UK.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Wednesday August 05 2015, @03:45PM
Nonsense? Hardly. Free Trade is a wonderful institution to advocate when you have a decided economic advantage over the local sources. It's primary effect after all is to equalize wealth distribution between disparate economic regions, and with all that money flowing around it's a poor businessman that can't find ample opportunities for obscene profits.