Dong-A Pharmaceutical will be the first in Korea to develop patient-tailored medicines that combine next-generation core technology "3D printing".
Dong-A Pharmaceutical announced on May 26 that it was selected as an organizing company to carry out the "3D Printing Technology-Based Customized Drug Development" project organized by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
The project is South Korea's first case of applying 3D printing technology that is being used in medical devices and bio fields to manufacturing oral medicines.
The project will be promoted as a "Challenge Track" project to overcome the technical limitations of conventional pharmaceutical industry production. The Challenge Track is an R&D task that has high industrial ripple effects and high challenge in R&D projects by industry.
In addition, it will be conducted in the form of an "R&D sandbox" that exempts outstanding companies from R&D regulations in a lump sum to strengthen research autonomy and accountability of research institutes.
Earlier, Dong-A Pharmaceutical is studying customized healthcare product manufacturing technology through 3D printing technology as one of the next generation research platform technologies. Through this project, it is planning to secure original technologies for manufacturing personalized 3D printed medicines.
Dong-A Pharmaceutical will conduct research by collaborating with Link Solution, which has 3D printer manufacturing technology in the healthcare field, and Chungbuk National University College of Pharmacy, which studies 3D printed drug formulations, with the goal of entering phase 1 clinical trial by 2025.
"We are trying to improve the effectiveness of treatment and reduce side effects to fulfill our social responsibility as a pharmaceutical company through providing personalized medicine manufacturing technology," said Lee Eun-seok, head of Dong-A Pharmaceutical's development strategy division. "Through this project, we will establish a new drug research and manufacturing system and apply technology to various healthcare products such as health functional foods and cosmetics as well as medicines."
