Based in Singapore, Craft Health Private Limited has acquired a vipro-HEAD 5 print head from ViscoTec in its 3D printers for the 3D printing of its nutraceutical and pharmaceutical products.
Craft Health is a healthcare research & development company committed to 3D-printed personalised healthcare. When it began looking for an accurate and precise print head for the manufacturing of personalised tablets, it came across ViscoTec. The solution that it needed had to comply with any regulatory requirement for manufacturing of nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals.
The ViscoTec print head vipro-HEAD convinced with its technology: using the endless-piston principle, it is possible to achieve accurate and precise dosing of Craft Blends – a proprietary mixture of different GRAS excipients for 3D printing and various controlled release profiles.
Other advantages of ViscoTec are the stepper motor version in the print head, that allows easy integration to already existing gantry systems for 3D printing. Moreover, the wetted and non-wetted surfaces can be clearly separated and cleaned accordingly. To meet the requirements of Craft Health, the wetted surfaces of the vipro-HEAD were customised and refabricated using SS316L material to comply with FDA regulations.
Dr Seng Han Lim is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Craft Health. He discussed his company’s adoption of the vipro-HEAD as part of its production processes.
AMT: Can you please describe what it was you needed when you began this process?
Seng Han Lim: Our Craft Blends must be printed in the desired volume or geometry based on the individual requirements of the active ingredient. We are using multiple print heads, and so the Craft Blends containing different active ingredients can also be combined onto a single tablet, depending on an individual’s requirement. Different Craft Blends can also be employed to control the rate of release of active ingredients into the body.
Hence, a unique and personalised tablet can be 3D printed for the individual, considering the combination, type, dose, and release profile of active ingredients required. The end product is a personalised tablet for the individual, for both nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals.
AMT: What were the challenges with this particular application?
SHL: The precision and accuracy of dosing during 3D printing is the main challenge due to the compressive nature of paste or semi-solids being used. With controlled extrusion and retraction function, the Vipro HEAD 5 allows precise and accurate dosing of the material being 3D printed, allowing the final product to be of high uniformity.
Reusability of the print head is also difficult if the wetted surfaces are hard to clean or consist of materials that are reactive, absorptive, or additive. The limits of printing according to our experience in the past were the accuracy and the precision of dosing
AMT: How did ViscoTec meet your requirements?
SHL: ViscoTec was totally open to the modification of the wetted surface materials of their 3D print head to an FDA compliant SS316L material. And the established endless piston technology allows us to achieve exactly the accurate and precise dosing of the printing material we have been searching for. So ViscoTec made it possible for us to get a print head that can comply with FDA requirements of being non-reactive, non-absorptive and non-additive on the one hand. And on the other hand, we received an accurate and precise print head for 3D printing of personalised tablets.
Melvyn Teo, the Managing Director of ViscoTec Asia, and his team, were open and supportive to new ideas on modifications to comply with any regulatory requirement for manufacturing of nutraceutical or pharmaceutical. ViscoTec Asia was also very prompt in technical or other administrative supports.