Goh Wei Jiang, Lim Seng Han and Lim Seng Han are pharmacists who have seen a lot of elderly patients. An overwhelming number of medications are being prescribed for multiple diagnoses – mainly diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol.
Patients would often leave the hospital after every visit carrying bags of pills, a difficult regimen and confusion.
The duo didn’t stop at observing and decided to tackle the issue. They set about solving a problem during their final year of PhD study at the National University of Singapore.
Seng Han’s expertise in 3D printing sparked an idea: Could they combine the active ingredients of various medications and put them altogether in a single pill?
Later, they were able to secure a modest research grant in order to verify that their theory actually works.
They enrolled in the NUS Graduate Research Innovation Programme, a structured three-month curriculum which guides them through a startup journey.
“Essentially, GRIP is like an incubator,” explained Wei Jiang. “We were the first cohort of participants when it was launched in 2018. It gave us ample opportunities to speak with many stakeholders – hospital administrators, doctors, clinicians, pharmacists, patients, among others.”
“After weighing all the evidence, we concluded that both the demand for better medication management and solution (3D printing medicine) are real, and thus, Craft Health was born.”
There are many obstacles to making a new technology successful
Craft Health has the potential to revolutionize pharmaceutical care.
Wei Jiang admits that although the project is promising, it has been difficult for investors to get involved in its early stages. In 2019, 3D printing was still an unfamiliar concept for many.
“Most of the time, it’s just Seng Han and I with our laptops. We didn’t have much to show and convince people. So, they were sceptical about what we could offer,” he added.
Investors were enthusiastic about Craft Health’s 3D printing of medicines and nutraceuticals in Singapore and Southeast Asia. However, the cautious ones wanted to know if 3D printed medicine is something that had been done before so they could pattern match Craft Health’s success rate.
Ironically, out of the 80 potential investors Wei Jiang spoke with, only one would be willing to make a leap in faith for their company. The COVID-19 pandemic hit just as the pair thought that everything was moving in the right directions.
We do have a degree of naivety in the beginning. Our initial thought was that 3D printing would solve all our problems. Turns out, this is just the beginning.
– Goh Wei Jin, founder of Craft Health
Seng Han and Wei Jiang quickly discovered that there are more problems in the management of 3D-printed medicines. They also need to educate potential clients about the benefits of 3D printing and ensure Craft Health delivers on its promises safely and efficiently.
But Craft Health’s secret weapon lies in the chain of workflow that they had developed to support the entire 3D printing drug delivery process.
One-stop shopping for all things 3D printed medicines and supplements
It all starts with 3D printers (Craft).Take the initiative to). This hardware is designed for 3D printing at ambient temperature and pressure without heat or UV light.
The active ingredients of each drug are preserved, so that multiple active components can be combined and administered in one single pill. Craft comes with it.Control Software that tells 3D printers how to correctly print the medication in the correct way.
Craft Health has the ability to customize active ingredients and drug release profiles for specific patients, regardless of whether they are requiring immediate release or long-term release. As such, CraftBlends is the “recipe book” that carefully cooks up different formulations.
Craft also generates or uses information.Take the initiative toCraftControlCraftBlends CraftDatabase. This archive system – one of the first in the world – allows Wei Jiang and Seng Han to better understand the interplay of various materials and factors, so they can 3D print more specialised or even personalised medicines.
Some active ingredients can give medicines an unpleasant flavor, for example. Craft Health has the ability to create multi-layer pills or even encapsulate another pill by 3D printing them. This can mask any unpleasant tastes. The outer layer can also be customized to release the stomach acid and protect the intestinal contents.
Craft Health, however, is expanding its nutraceutical division.
CraftBeads These granules can be 3D printed and offer an individual approach to supplementation. Craft offers a unique alternative to purchasing vitamins on the shelves. Instead of eating one vitamin after another, Craft allows you to make your own.Beads can mix and match to create custom blends based on individuals’ supplementary needs.
Craft on the other sideDelights It is an adult-oriented 3D-printed gummy project. Although it started out as a sweet idea for pediatric patients, the product quickly gained popularity with adults.
We can also incorporate probiotics into these 3D printed gummies because they are not subject to heat or UV light. This technique allows for different shapes, sizes, geometrics, and tastes. That’s probably why people are excited about it, as they can see very highly personalised gummies being made.
– Goh Wei Jin, founder of Craft Health
Regulators are still a hurdle to 3D printed medicines
Currently, 3D-printed medicines are not subject to any regulatory framework in Singapore or worldwide.
It is unclear how drug approvals are made in general. Most often, health officials will approve specific brands of medications that come in a particular dose. For any changes to active ingredients or doses, a new consent must be obtained.
In the case of 3D printing medications when the combination of active ingredients and dosage becomes limitless, it’s impossible to officially register and green light every mix. Craft Health intends to get around this hurdle by compounding.
According to Wei Jiang, compounding is a pharmaceutical practice that’s not very common in Singapore.
Patients can ask for certain ingredients to be removed or added to a medication they take due to allergies or any other medical reason. In that case, pharmacists will have to specially “compound” the drugs for the patients.
Craft Health will conduct a clinical trial with a local hospital at the end this year. They want to prove that it’s just as efficacious for patients to take a 3D printed pill containing active ingredients from three different types of medications versus taking them separately.
“It’s a very low bar for us to cross,” Wei Jiang said confidently. “But our rationale is to provide some preliminary evidence to the doctors that our products are safe and effective.”
Craft Health plans to eventually develop a list of 3D-printed medicines that doctors will be able to prescribe from the menu.
To take a different road
While it may still be years before Craft Health, and probably the whole 3D printing medication industry, arrives at their ultimate goals, the founders are glad it’s emerging as a pioneering and dominant player in the field.
“Establishing Craft Health as a deeptech spinoff from NUS is already a huge advantage. This shows that our technology is being supported by a trusted institution. There are some validations that this is doable,” noted Wei Jiang.
It’s exciting, Wei Jiang admitted that being an entrepreneur is not as thrilling as it sounds. However, he also acknowledged the many unknowns that being an entrepreneur can bring to him in ways he wouldn’t have experienced while working as a pharmacist.
Entrepreneurship means that you have to do everything at once. Everything must be done, even fixing the air conditioning in your office.
– Goh Wei Jin, founder of Craft Health
Whether it’s the 3D printing technology itself, or the operation, business, and legal side of things, Wei Jiang and Seng Han had learnt a lot in the past four years, and they learnt them fast despite the steeo growth curve.
As with the amazing array of 3D-printed prescription combinations that can be offered, the 3D printing technology holds a seemingly limitless potential for the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries. We don’t have much time to get overwhelmed by the rapid pace of technology development.
Credit for the Featured Photo: National University of Singapore