ArticlePharmacoEconomics - open2025
What Does Pharmaceutical 3D Printing Cost? A Framework and Case Study with Hydrocortisone for Adrenal Insufficiency.
Article in PharmacoEconomics - open, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Translation of pharmaceutical 3D printing to clinical point-of-care and industrial manufacturing.Drug delivery and translational research · 2026Review
- From Digital Design to Dosage Performance: Material-Process-Geometry Interactions in 3D-Printed Oral Tablets.AAPS PharmSciTech · 2026Review
- Three-Dimensional Printing in Paediatrics: Innovative Technology for Manufacturing Patient-Centred Drug Delivery Systems.Pharmaceutics · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPharmaceutical three-dimensional printing (3DP) technology offers an automated platform that can be utilized to manufacture personalized medicine, improving pharmacotherapy. Although 3D-printed products have entered clinical trials, no costing studies have been performed yet. Cost insights can aid researchers and industry in making informed decisions about the feasibility and scalability of 3DP.
objectiveThe aim of this research was therefore to develop a framework that can be utilized to estimate the manufacturing cost of one 3D tablet in a hospital pharmacy setting.
methodsTo develop the costing framework, general manufacturing phases were identified, consisting of (i) pre-printing, (ii) printing, and (iii) post-printing. For each phase, cost categories were defined, including personnel, materials, equipment, facility, and quality assurance. The three phases combined with the categories formed the base of the costing framework. An earlier developed 3D-printed hydrocortisone formulation (M3DICORT) was used as a case study. Costs were expressed in 2022 euros (€). The framework was applied to M3DICORT in four scenarios: a base case scenario, worst-case scenario, best-case scenario, and a scaling scenario. In the scaling scenario, we assumed that 3D inks were mass produced.
resultsCosts of manufacturing a single M3DICORT tablet were €1.97-3.11 (best-case-worst-case) and €1.58-2.26 for the scaling scenario.
conclusionManufacturing costs of 3D-printed pharmaceuticals were thus far unknown. The framework is translated into an open-access costing tool to facilitate adoption by other parties, and is also applicable for other pharmaceutical 3DP techniques.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.