Issue 549 3D printers and drugs March 17, 2015

Drugs are about to get even cheaper.  And it is all thanks to 3D printers.

How it works:  Just like before, 3D printers will lay materials on top of each other to produce an object.  In this case, the material will be chemicals for medicines.  We already have mass production, but it has to be done at a factory far away and then shipped to the pharmacy/stores.  Thus we have extensive labor, and transportation costs. But 3D printers simply require raw materials.  So labor costs can be completely eliminated.  Transportation costs can be mitigated as now you only have to refine the chemicals (if needed) and then a warehouse holds them until they are transported to their destinations (pharmacies/ and even hospitals).  From there the materials are loaded into hoppers for them to be dispensed by the printers.  What is cool about this is that multiple medications can be put together in the same pill.  So you can take your blood pressure pill, your cholesterol pill, and your heartburn pill all at the same time as a single pill. 

What this also does is make drugs cheaper for insurance to cover.  No longer will insurance companies have to cover expensive pre-manufactured drugs, but simply the chemical components and the cost to buy and put them together at the pharmacy level.  Drug companies essentially lose control on drugs and thus become chemical collectors and distributors.  As such, chemicals themselves will be patented, and of course researched, with the costs of that research factored into the costs.  It will thus mean that chemicals without patents anymore become dirt cheap, but newer chemicals remain somewhat expensive.  But, this also means that some drugs can simply be made at home.  You yourself can cut out even more costs by buying the packets of chemicals and using your home 3D printer to print the drugs. Of course you can bypass drug distributors by actively looking for chemicals yourself and printing them yourself.  So you're being able to self-medicate is also a possibility.  But potentially doctors can also hire pharmacists to work in their offices too, to reap the rewards of a 3D printers cheap manufacturing and having a single pharmacist on staff to maintain it and answer questions (essentially cutting out pharmacies completely).

Conclusion:  3D printers are shaking up the world of medicine.  As time goes on it will supplant traditional methods of drug manufacturing and thus bring forth many of the benefits and abilities I presented here to you all today.  And this may only be the tip of a very large iceberg with respect to the potential of 3D printers on medical manufacturing and drugs.  So, feel free to get excited about what may come.