Three-dimensional printing (3DP) is an emerging technology used to describe 3D products manufactured on a digital design platform and in a layer by layer fashion. 3D printing technology has appeared as a major technological revolution of the recent years leading to the manufacturing and production of novel medical products and devices in pharmaceutical industry. The new technology has gained considerable attraction when the first commercial 3D tablet Spiratam® (levetiracetam) was approved by FDA in August 2015. The key aspect of printing technology in the field of drug delivery is its versatility to create potential novel oral dosage forms. It also enables rapid, safe, and low-cost development in the production process which consequently leads to wide applications of this new technology in pharmaceutical fields. 3D printing also enhances patient convenience to further improve the medication compliance. Among various technical trends for fabricating 3D objects, extrusion-based printing, powder-based binding, and inject printing methods are of particular interest to the pharmaceutical industry which are discussed briefly in this paper. This study also provides different applications of 3D printing technology and highlights the impact of 3D printing as an innovative promising technology through presenting some examples as experimental studies in the fabrication of oral drug delivery systems. Through reviewing some experimental studies, this mini review has shown that 3D printing technique can be successfully used on a small scale to produce tailored doses of drug products and has great advantages experimentally in the production of oral doses forms. Concerning the future of 3D printing, the new technology is likely to focus on production in hospitals and pharmacies for individuals or niche groups with specific needs. 3D printing may also offer an attractive new research and development opportunity to improve drug formulation and administration of existing active pharmaceutical ingredients.

中文翻译：

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3D 打印技术在药物口服制剂设计和制造中应用的最新趋势：小综述

三维打印 (3DP) 是一种新兴技术，用于描述在数字设计平台上以逐层方式制造的 3D 产品。3D打印技术作为近年来的重大技术革命出现，导致制药行业新型医疗产品和设备的制造和生产。当第一个商用 3D 片剂 Spiratam®（左乙拉西坦）于 2015 年 8 月获得 FDA 批准时，这项新技术获得了相当大的吸引力。打印技术在给药领域的关键在于其多功能性，可以创造潜在的新型口服剂型。它还可以在生产过程中实现快速、安全和低成本的开发，从而导致这种新技术在制药领域的广泛应用。3D 打印还提高了患者的便利性，以进一步提高用药依从性。在制造 3D 物体的各种技术趋势中，基于挤出的打印、基于粉末的结合和注射打印方法对制药行业特别感兴趣，本文将对其进行简要讨论。本研究还提供了 3D 打印技术的不同应用，并通过展示一些示例作为制造口服给药系统的实验研究，突出了 3D 打印作为一项有前途的创新技术的影响。通过回顾一些实验研究，本次小型综述表明，3D打印技术可以成功用于小规模生产定制剂量的药物产品，并且在口服剂型的生产中具有很大的实验优势。关于 3D 打印的未来，新技术可能会专注于在医院和药房为有特定需求的个人或利基群体生产。3D 打印还可以提供一个有吸引力的新研发机会，以改进现有活性药物成分的药物配方和管理。