"Now the technology has come so far that we can evaluate 3D printers for individual dosing of drugs for children in the hospital. There is great interest from both #barnintensiven and #Akademiskabarnsjukhuset.
The picture above is from the tests we did in August 2023 at Clinical Chemistry, Ing. 61 and shows tablets developed for patients with swallowing difficulties. In this case, we used propranolol as the model substance and the subsequent HPLC analyses confirmed consistent and correct content.
Why do we want to evaluate this technology?
Our vision at Uppsala University Children's Hospital is: With high-quality care, research and education, we are a leading hospital for children, adolescents and their families. One of the challenges we face with regard to medicines is to adapt oral medicine doses for children, when there are no appropriate formulations.
In order to give an individual dose, nurses and pharmacists in departments use various techniques, such as crushing tablets, mixing powders with liquids or using special dosing devices. This can give children individualized doses even in cases where reconstituted doses such as oral solutions (approved drugs) are missing. However, it is important to note that when sharing a tablet or manipulating medications, it can be difficult to ensure exact dosage. There is a risk that the child does not get the right amount of the medicine due to a number of factors, including the solubility of the medicine in water and homogeneity. See, for example, this recently published article in Acta Paediatrica. Therefore, close monitoring and regular check-ups are crucial to ensure that the child is receiving the right amount of medication.
What did we evaluate during the test period?
Before an equipment is put into use in extemporaneous manufacturing in a pharmacy, extensive validation work (e.g. IQ/OQ/PQ) must be carried out for the equipment. During our test period, we had the opportunity to make such evaluations but also study the equipment in a larger context in collaboration with Sofia Kälvemark Sporrong at BMC in Uppsala and researchers at the University Hospital in Helsinki.
Many thanks to my pharmacist colleague Nivin Asinger, clinic pharmacist at the pediatric intensive care unit BIVA, for successful cooperation!.
What are the next steps?
The undersigned and Gustaf Ljungman and Gunnar Liminga at the University Children's Hospital have since 2017 an exciting and productive collaboration with BMC Christel Bergström and the Ångström Laboratory Jonas Lindh Maria Strömme in the project "Individualized drugs for optimized treatment of seriously ill children". Based on the results of this project and Region Uppsala's ERDF grant, we hope to soon be able to present the next step on the road to safer drug therapy for children.
This text was originally written by Mattias Paulsson and we have translated it to English. Link to original post.