Since its founding in 2015, pharmaceutical company Triastek has repeatedly made headlines with its advances in 3D printed drugs—including treatments for ulcerative colitis, bowel disease, and more. Now, the company has announced the opening of the world’s largest 3D printed pharmaceuticals center. Meanwhile, in another major development, Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom revealed plans to launch its first Additive Manufacturing Center in Belarus. Catch these stories and more in this week’s 3DExpress!
World’s Largest 3D Printed Pharmaceuticals Facility Opening in China
Triastek is opening a 3D printing pharmaceutical facility in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. According to the China Daily, the production center should be able to produce 300 million tablets every year with the use of fully automated and autonomous 3D printers. Making tablets traditionally involves many steps: granulation, mixing, tableting, coating and blister packaging. 3D printing them, however, means that only blending and melting, printing, and packaging are necessary. 3D printing tablets also allows for more complex internal structures and can improve quality control, among other benefits. The Jiangsu Medical Products Administration granted Triastek China’s first pharmaceutical production license for 3D printed drugs. Now, Triastek will be the second company in the world to commercialize additively manufactured drugs, after the US company Aprecia. Triastek has completed pharmaceutical research and clinical trials for the anticoagulant Apixaban tablet (T20j), and is now waiting for market approval. The company currently has more than 10 other 3D printed drug products in phase I or phase II clinical trials.
Triastek’s Melt Extrusion Depostion (MED®) 3D printing process (Image Credit: Triastek)
Rosatom, Russian Nuclear State Corporation, Opens Center for Additive Technologies in Belarus
The State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom (Rosatom) opened the first Centre for Additive Technologies (TsAT – Tsentr Additivvnikh Tekhnologii) in Belarus. The Moscow-based corporation specializes in nuclear energy, and also has assets in power engineering, machine engineering and construction, among others. Their additive technologies division was established in 2017, and since then, they have opened seven centers for Additive Technologies across Russia. Rosatom and a Belarusian company, H-Holding, are implementing the project, making it the first Rosatom TsAT created abroad. The Belarus center has two SLM machines: the medium-sized RusMelt 300M SLM printer and the larger RusMelt 600M. Additionally, it has a Russian-made machine for printing sand polymer molds and a 3D scanner developed by Rosatom’s technology partner. At the opening of the TsAT, Viktor Karankevich, Belarus Deputy Prime Minister, said, “Belarusian enterprises are already switching to the use of additive technologies, and the appearance of such a facility in the country will give a new impetus to the development of new types of products and their application in medicine, energy, aircraft construction and other high-tech industries.”
The opening ceremony of the Rosatom Centre for Additive Technologies in Belarus (Photo credit: Rosatom Additive Technologies LLC)
3D Systems Shifts Focus to 3D Sprint, Divesting from Oqton MOS and 3DXpert
3D Systems announced a strategic shift to advance its proprietary polymer solution, 3D Sprint. The company plans on doing this by leveraging AI and machine learning to improve part quality, accelerate design, optimize workflows, and simplify factory operations. As part of this focus, the company will divest its industrywide, printer-agnostic platforms, including Oqton MOS and 3DXpert, to Hubb Global Holdings, which has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the assets. Under Hubb’s ownership, both platforms will continue operating as independent solutions to support broader industry adoption of metal additive manufacturing, driving standardization and enabling efficient management of mixed fleets of printers. 3D Systems will maintain a strategic partnership with Hubb, continuing to incorporate 3DXpert into its metal printing portfolio while prioritizing innovation in polymer production systems. The transaction is expected to close in Q4 2025.
3D Sprint software (Credit: 3D Systems)
Research on 3D Printed Glass as a Bone Substitute
Researchers in China have developed a new bone substitute made from bioactive glass printed in 3D. Although it may sound unusual, glass and bone share structural properties, such as their ability to bear weight. Leveraging this similarity, the team led by Jianru Xiao, Tao Chen, and Huanan Wang created a glass gel formed from silica particles with opposite charges, combined with calcium and phosphate—elements that stimulate bone cell formation. This material can be 3D printed and requires post-treatment in a furnace at 700 °C. In tests on rabbits with cranial damage, the bioactive glass promoted more sustained bone growth than regular glass and showed results comparable to a commercial bone substitute. The researchers highlight this as a promising alternative for medical and engineering applications.
In pink, a 3D printed implant made from bioactive glass. (Photo credits: The American Chemical Society).
What do you think of Triastek’s 3D printed drugs? Let us know in a comment below or on our LinkedIn or Facebook pages! Plus, don’t forget to sign up for our free weekly Newsletter to get the latest 3D printing news straight to your inbox. You can also find all our videos on our YouTube channel. Interested in more medical and dental 3D printing news? Visit our dedicated page HERE.
*Cover Photo Credit: Triastek