INK-JET PRINTING OF PHARMACEUTICALS

Traditional tablet manufacturing process has multiple powder handling and mixing phases. It is time consuming and limits individualized dosing. Furthermore, uniformity of the dose is difficult to achieve. Modern ink-jet printing technology has been successfully applied to polymer electronics and biomaterial applications. It has many advantages that could be utilized in drug manufacturing process, such as faster production cycle with fewer processing steps, precise dosing, on-demand individualized dosing and possibility for on-line quality control. This study examines how well current printer technologies function in printing different types of drug solutions on paper-like substrate. Preliminary tests were carried out with paracetamol and riboflavin-water solutions. The study denoted that printing medicines and biopolymer coating was possible, the accuracy of dose was very satisfying and personalized dosing was easy to achieve. Further studies with specially manufactured printers are still needed to determine the suitability of the ink-jet printing process in commercial drug manufacturing.