3-D printers to produce customized medicines
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Hürriyet archival photo.
Researchers from the University of Glasgow have developed 3-D printers in order to create customized medicines, the BBC reported today.In the 3-D printing process, chemicals are mixed in an object that is produced out of a gel-based "ink" created by a robotically controlled syringe.
"Chemists normally put chemicals in glassware to create a reaction," said the originator of the 3-D idea, Professor Lee Cronin. "What we are doing is mixing the concept of the glassware and the chemicals together in the 3-D printer to create what we call “reactionware.’”
"We're extrapolating from that to say that in the future you could buy common chemicals, slot them into something that 3-D prints, just press a button to mix the ingredients and filter them through the architecture and at the bottom you would get out your prescription drug,” researcher Mark Symes said.
Pharmaceutical firms will able to benefit from the 3-D printers in five years and the public will produce medicines related with their needs as a further step within 20 years, according to scientists’ predictions.
