Kevin Coker, co-founder and CEO of Proxima Clinical Research, explores the outlook for new and existing materials and manufacturing practices in medtech.
New cures call for new science as well as the application of new and improved manufacturing materials and processes. With the rapid advancements in regenerative medicine, the industry predicted we’d be able to print human organs 10 years ago, but the technology has not advanced enough. Still, it has doubled in advancement every year, much like the progression of computers that once took the space of an entire building, to today, where we have smart phones that fit into our pockets and cameras so small, they fit on the head of a pin. Today’s medical technology has finally caught up to the dream of printing live tissue and the only missing part to live organs is the vascularization and innervation.
Even amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the advent of 3D printing in regenerative medicine—using innovative materials such as bioabsorbables—shows us how and where medical invention is gathering momentum. This illustrates that even under immense stress, humans are capable of tremendous advancements, and 3D printing is a key area to watch.
Materials science
The evolution in materials science is one of the driving factors for exponential growth in medtech. Some of the most exciting scientific developments making their way into commercial applications can be seen in the areas of bioprinting and additive manufacturing.
These processes are becoming a reality in everything from bioabsorbable materials appearing as key components of medical devices to full-scale organ-development in regenerative medicine. 3D printing technology was developed 40 years ago and began as a process of additive manufacturing by overlaying polymers one layer at a time through an extrusion process. Today, printer types and functions are as vast as the applications themselves along with substrate material choices, including biological and bio-absorbable materials with the potential to change healthcare forever.
Bioabsorbable inks and materials
A main component of 3D bioprinting is the bioink, which is vital in the design of functional organs and tissue structures. Bioinks can have a variety of properties to suit the specific application but usually fall into two main categories: cell-scaffold based approach and scaffold-free cell-based approach. In cell-scaffold, the bioink consists of biomaterial and live cells, which are printed to develop 3D tissue structures. In this form function, the scaffold usually biodegrades the living cells that were printed behind in a structured format. The scaffold-free cell-based approach entails additive layers which build up the bulk of the tissue.
These Bioinks are “printed” through various methods such as inkjet bioprinting, selective laser sintering (SLS), and stereolithography (SLA). There are many choices of bioinks, such as agarose-based inks, collagen-based substrates, hyaluronic-based inks, and synthetic materials. Bioinks used in the 3D bioprinting processes need to exhibit biocompatibility, biodegradability, and non-toxicity to cells. Ideally, they also provide a source of nutrients for the remaining structure. Different methods allow for a variety of controlled porosity, permeability, and mechanical properties.
Additive manufacturing
With those challenges in mind, and as the technology advances, additive manufacturing, which is the cumulation of the bioinks through the printing process, has solidified its place within current and new medical device prototypes. For example, hearing aids are being 3D printed on a large scale today, and the hope of scientists is to one day alleviate hearing impairments altogether with regenerated living tissue rather than devices or surgery used today.
Organ level printing
As companies continue to advance the technology, 3D bioprinting will play an increasingly larger role in full-scale organ-level regenerative medicine to solve very challenging biological problems such as vascularisation and innervation of printed biological tissue, giving promise to the future of functioning organs such as kidneys, livers and lungs. One example of this promise is the recent acquisition of Volumetric Biotechnologies by 3D Systems, as they advance their platform for human organ printing. 3D Systems and Volumetric plan to develop a sizeable biofabrication facility in Houston’s East End Maker Hub, further positioning the city as a hub in life sciences innovation.
The future
Medtech innovation is booming, and innovation is maturing in directions never seen nor explored. New technologies and innovative materials are changing medical care as we know it. This innovation is positioning 2022 as an incredibly promising year for a variety of innovative materials and their applications.
