Can 3D printing of oral drugs help fight the current COVID-19 pandemic (and similar crisis in the future)?

The ongoing COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the importance of a robust drug supply chain which can be quickly and flexibly ramped up to produce life-saving drug treatments. 3D printing (3DP) of oral solid dosage forms (OSDF) could be a viable part of the emergency drug production response to support vulnerable patients in rural regions and other isolated locations. In the context of the current pandemic, the suitability of different 3DP technologies will depend on the physicochemical properties, unit dose strength and BCS classification of the repurposed drug compounds currently being trialed for COVID-19. Furthermore, the deployment strategy should focus on simplifying dosage forms and formulations, scaling down the size and complexity of the printing systems and real-time quality assurance via process analytical technologies (PAT).