FabRx launches Kickstarter campaign for 3D printed medicine
A UK-based biotech start-up is seeking crowdfunding to support the launch of a new 3D printing platform for children's medicine. FabRx, based in Kent, has been working for five years at the 3D printing laboratory at University College London developing ways of adapting the technology to produce medicines. It has now launched a bid to raise £50,000 on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter to support its plan to adapt an existing 3D printer produced by the Magic Candy Factory, a company that produces bespoke sweets. FabRx aims to make medicines more appealing to children and achieve greater precision in dosages.

FabRx FabRx Printlets. 3D printed formulations with different shapes, colours, and flavours.

FabRx, a biotech company looking to transform the manufacture of medicines using 3D printing, is to launch a Kickstarter campaign for its own 3D printing platform.

The machine will be an adapted version of The Magic Candy Factory's and will enable the preparation of medicines that are ideal for children. With a goal of £50,000, FabRx’s Kickstarter campaign will get underway on Wednesday 6th December.

Based in Kent, with a laboratory in London, FabRx is looking to not only make medicines more appealing for children, but also achieve more precision in the dosage, combine more than one drug per medicine, and prepare medicines on-demand in hospitals and pharmacies. The company will also look to produce several forms of medicine, including tablets, capsules, and chewable formulations, all appropriate for children – the tablets the printer produces are called Printlets. Printlets can be made to contain a certain does, be easy to swallow, and prepared in the child’s desired flavour, colour and shape. FabRx has also managed to combine up to four drugs in one medicine, each represented by a different coloured layer.

Winner of the TCT Show Start-Up Award 2017, FabRx has been working at the advanced 3D printing laboratory at UCL for more than five years conducting research around 3D printed medicines. It has entered into a partnership with The Magic Candy Factory, to adapt their printer which has already been successful in the 3D printing of sweets. The design will be altered, so as to avoid contamination from the environment, and FabRx will also ensure pharmaceutically approved materials will be supported.

Meanwhile, the software will allow the user to select key dosage form parameters, and can already enable the printing of any shape and flavour. Upgrades will be implemented so the user can accurately prepare the dose prescribed by the doctor. Since the dose of the tablet depends on weight, the software will be designed so it can transform the selected dose to an object in the selected shape with the right weight.

On the back of this Kickstarter campaign, FabRx plans to start studies with hospital patients in mid-2018, using the standard printer and beta-version of its modified software. The company plans to develop the first prototype of the printer and the modified software after feedback is garnered from the clinicians and patients in summer 2018.