3D Printing Personalized Medicines with goatAM

Reinventing 3D printing for the pharmaceutical sector — that’s the ambition behind goatAM. Drawing on their research expertise, the company’s founders are developing solutions for the production of personalized medicines, including 3D-printed pills. With this innovative approach, goatAM aims to transform access to tailored treatments, put patients at the center of care, and help democratize 3D printing. We spoke with the startup to learn more about its vision, technologies, and the challenges of 3D printing medicines.

3DN: Can you introduce yourselves and tell us about your journey into 3D printing and the creation of goatAM?

We are Tilmann Spitz (CEO and founder) and Fabian Loose (CTO and founder) of goatAM. Both mechanical engineers trained at the Technical University of Cologne, we carried out research within the university’s Production Systems Laboratory. It was there that we discovered 3D printing and began developing specialized systems and techniques, mainly for industrial applications. Our work included 6-axis 3D printers, large-format polymer foam printing, and AI-assisted analysis tools for plastics processing.

The goatAM team. Left: Fabian Loose; right: Tilmann Spitz. (Photo credit : goatAm)

goatAM was founded following the completion of several university projects. In 2018, Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf approached us to explore 3D printing for personalized medicines. Although our expertise at the time was rooted in mechanical engineering, we quickly became fascinated by the topic. Two projects emerged from this collaboration: one focused on 3D printing single-dose pills using a screw extruder for centralized production, and the other on an FDM-based approach for decentralized manufacturing in pharmacies. The success of the second project, carried out with Heinrich Heine University and Merck KGaA, attracted significant interest and ultimately led to the creation of goatAM and the commercialization of our technology.