3DExpress: World’s Largest 3D Printed Pharmaceutical Facility Opening in China

Since its founding in 2015, pharmaceutical company Triastek has repeatedly made headlines with its advances in 3D printed drugs—including treatments for ulcerative colitis, bowel disease, and more. Now, the company has announced the opening of the world’s largest 3D printed pharmaceuticals center. Meanwhile, in another major development, Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom revealed plans to launch its first Additive Manufacturing Center in Belarus. Catch these stories and more in this week’s 3DExpress!

World’s Largest 3D Printed Pharmaceuticals Facility Opening in China

Triastek is opening a 3D printing pharmaceutical facility in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. According to the China Daily, the production center should be able to produce 300 million tablets every year with the use of fully automated and autonomous 3D printers. Making tablets traditionally involves many steps: granulation, mixing, tableting, coating and blister packaging. 3D printing them, however, means that only blending and melting, printing, and packaging are necessary. 3D printing tablets also allows for more complex internal structures and can improve quality control, among other benefits. The Jiangsu Medical Products Administration granted Triastek China’s first pharmaceutical production license for 3D printed drugs. Now, Triastek will be the second company in the world to commercialize additively manufactured drugs, after the US company Aprecia. Triastek has completed pharmaceutical research and clinical trials for the anticoagulant Apixaban tablet (T20j), and is now waiting for market approval. The company currently has more than 10 other 3D printed drug products in phase I or phase II clinical trials.

Triastek’s Melt Extrusion Depostion (MED®) 3D printing process (Image Credit: Triastek)

Rosatom, Russian Nuclear State Corporation, Opens Center for Additive Technologies in Belarus

The State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom (Rosatom) opened the first Centre for Additive Technologies (TsAT – Tsentr Additivvnikh Tekhnologii) in Belarus. The Moscow-based corporation specializes in nuclear energy, and also has assets in power engineering, machine engineering and construction, among others. Their additive technologies division was established in 2017, and since then, they have opened seven centers for Additive Technologies across Russia. Rosatom and a Belarusian company, H-Holding, are implementing the project, making it the first Rosatom TsAT created abroad. The Belarus center has two SLM machines: the medium-sized RusMelt 300M SLM printer and the larger RusMelt 600M. Additionally, it has a Russian-made machine for printing sand polymer molds and a 3D scanner developed by Rosatom’s technology partner. At the opening of the TsAT, Viktor Karankevich, Belarus Deputy Prime Minister, said, “Belarusian enterprises are already switching to the use of additive technologies, and the appearance of such a facility in the country will give a new impetus to the development of new types of products and their application in medicine, energy, aircraft construction and other high-tech industries.”