Possibilities for 3D Printing in the Life Sciences Market - June'13
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Transcript of Possibilities for 3D Printing in the Life Sciences Market - June'13
2013
RNCOS
Possibilities for 3D Printing in the Life Sciences
Market
Possibilities for 3D Printing in the Life Sciences Market
Rapid advances in technology and breakthrough
results in various R&D experiments suggest new
applications for 3D printing in the life sciences and
medical world.
Recent 3D Bio-printing Breakthroughs
• Scientists from the Herlot-Watt
University, Edinburg successfully 3D-
printed embryonic stem cells
• Artificial skull 3D printed by Scientists at
Oxford Performance Materials replaced
75% of the skull of an American patient
• Scientists at LayerWise created an
implantable lower jaw for a patient in
Netherlands
• A cancer patient who had his left face
missing due to a surgery to remove
tumor, was implanted with a 3D printed
prosthetic face
• Researchers at Cornell University
created a living human ear using a 3D
printer
• Scientists at Oxford University developed
a 3D printer that can create living
tissues.
Introduction
Being in oblivion for almost three decades, 3D printing has
recently garnered much limelight. So much so that Wall Street
analysts are promoting the 3D printing industry as the next big
thing after the internet revolution. With high stakes being placed
on market players, we decided to look into the applications of 3D
printing in life sciences and whether or not it has the potential to
deliver on the high expectations.
The Technology
3D printing is an additive manufacturing process, wherein the
product is manufactured by adding the raw material layer by
layer, following a successive bottom-up approach. The process
begins by first designing a digital CAD file for the desired product.
This CAD file is used to instruct the 3D printer. Further, raw
materials for the final product are fed into the appropriate portal.
Once instructions are given, it takes only a few minutes for the 3D
printer to manufacture the final product.
Market Dynamics
With varied applications in aeronautical engineering, prototype
designing and immense potential for growth in the medical
industry, the market for 3D printing is expected to grow at CAGR
of around 22% between 2012-2017 to reach a value of US$ 3.4
Billion by the end of forecast period. Advances in technology are
expected to decrease the 3D printer’s size, while enhancing its
ability to manufacture complex designs. This will further fuel its
growth by adding onto its applications and increasing its usability.
Possibilities in Life Sciences
Dentistry: 3D printing is revolutionizing the way
artificial dentures are made. Gone are the days
when patients had to rely on uncomfortable,
foul-tasting, and less accurate oral impressions
using trays and molding materials. Now, the
patient has to just sit and let the dentist take a
3D scan of the teeth. The digital data of the
scan is converted into a CAD file and uploaded
into a computer. This file can then be used to
get the denture printed from an in-house
printer or a local firm with a 3D printer.
Although, a lot of small firms are mushrooming
up that provide these services for a nominal
fee, with decreasing cost of a 3D printer and its
rising affordability, it is expected that the trend
of having an in-house 3D printer will soon catch
up amongst medium scale dentists in the
developed regions.
Organ Modeling: The technology has immense
scope in the field of manufacturing prosthetic
limbs and other body organs. Currently, its use
ranges from manufacturing organ models for
surgeons to evaluate medical procedures to
manufacturing of human skulls and jaws for
transplantation procedures. 3D printing has also
brought about a sea change in how prosthetic
limbs are made and customized. Manufactures
are using the technology to produce customized
prosthetic limb coverings, or fairings, that
perfectly mirror the sculptural symmetry and
function of the wearer's remaining limb.
The major advantage of producing prosthetic
limbs and transplantable jaw, skull and other
organs where living tissues are not required is
that it reduces the surgery time. Chief reason
behind the reduction in surgery time is the
personalized manufacturing of the implant. The
implant fits perfectly into the patient’s body,
reducing hospital stay and the overall medical
costs. In its nascent stages, the rising popularity
of prosthetic limbs designed using 3D printing is
all set to boost the growth of the 3D printers
market.
Drug R&D: Currently, millions of dollars and
substantial time is wasted if a drug candidate
that passed efficacy studies in animal models is
found toxic in clinical trials. To reduce this
wastage, 3D printers can offer a very viable
solution. Imagine a microchip with uniformly
spaced human target tissues, wherein the
metabolism and toxicity of the drug can be
studied.
In a recent development, a 3D printer was used
to evenly print uniform-size droplets of stem
cells gently enough to keep the cells alive and
maintain their ability to develop into different
cell types. These stem cells can be induced to
transform into the desired differentiated cells
and observed upon for the application of drug.
A lot of research is required before such
technique can be routinely used by the pharma
firms, still, recent researches and collaborations
between players in the 3D printing market and
big pharma are an indication of the growth of
this application in the field.
• 3D printed implantable dentures
and prosthetics are finding
increased acceptability and rise in
demand as they can be produced in
a significantly shorter time and
budget
• 3D printing provides the ability to
built a scaffold with high integrity
and carefully planned porosity,
giving immense advantage for use
in tissue engineering
Tissue Engineering: This by far, remains the
most lucrative and underdeveloped segment of
all. Lucrative because it has the potential to fill
in the wide gap in demand and supply of
organs; underdeveloped because of the
sensitive nature of the research involved. The
technology provides with an opportunity to
produce things which can’t be produced
otherwise. For instance, one can print porous
titanium structures which allow bone in-growth
and allow a better fixation of the implant, giving
it a longer lifetime.
The technology could involve the creation of
replacement tissues and organs that are printed
layer-by-layer into a three-dimensional
structure. Parts could be made from the organ
recipient's own genetic matter, and precisely
match the tissue or organ they replace. Since
these printed organs or tissue will be made
from the patient's own cells rather than those
of a donated heart or liver, there'll little risk of
an immune response, which lessens the need
for debilitating immunosuppressive drugs.
Breakthroughs in the field are increasing in
frequency. Market players are forming
collaborations with leading research centers
and universities to work on a viable solution.
Recent advances in the field involve
manufacturing of simple tissues like skin, heart
muscle patches, and blood vessels. Moreover,
researchers have successfully produced
miniature functional kidneys using 3D printing
and are now working on developing more
sophisticated prototypes. Researchers are also
focusing on producing ear, muscle, and
cartilage-bone using 3D printing.
The field is at the research level phase. Once
enough data is accumulated, the research is
bound to reach clinical trial stages. The current
scenario suggest that the initiation of such
clinical trials could begin in the next 5-6 years
and in the next 15-20 years, the technology to
manufacture organs using 3D printing and
recipient’s cells can be expected to become a
common practice reducing the organ demand
supply gap and saving precious lives.
Conclusion
Currently, the medical and life sciences sector
accounts for only a marginal share of about 15%
in the total 3D printing industry. Of this, the
majority of revenue is being generated through
the manufacturing of dentures and prosthetic
limbs. However, immense potential lies in the
applications that the technology can have in
transforming pharmaceutical R&D and
manufacturing complete organs. Players in the
industry thus need to focus on two aspects.
First, they should try to provide viable solutions
and cater to the ever increasing demand from
consumers for direct digital manufacturing.
Second, while generating revenue and
Key Take-aways
• Trend of keeping in-house 3D printers
s augment in US dental clinics
• Players will find increased demand
from implantable prosthetics market
• Tissue scaffolds will be increasingly
manufactured using 3D printers
which will boost the regenerative
medicine and surgery market
• Research impetus will be on efforts of
manufacturing whole organs using 3D
printing technology
maintaining profits, a considerable amount of
revenue should be utilized to invest in R&D to
increase the usability of the technology in the
medical field. Collaborations with research
institutes with an eye on federal funds can be a
positive move in the direction.
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