Revolutionizing microneedle array fabrication using additive manufacturing technologies: Potential applications and clinical translation

Microneedle (MN) arrays offer an effective method for drug delivery that is minimally invasive and pain-free, demonstrating significant potential for medical applications. However, manufacturing adequate MN arrays is challenging because they are micron-scale structures and have complicated morphology. Therefore, innovative manufacturing technologies are highly sought after for developing MN arrays, as they would significantly advance their clinical translations. Additive manufacturing has emerged as a groundbreaking technique in the pharmaceutical realm, offering a distinctive capacity to produce personalised dosage forms and patient-tailored medical devices like MNs. Presently, additive manufacturing technology has been used to create MN arrays, which might help increase the usage of these arrays in medical applications and promote the development of new designs. This work aims to review several key additive manufacturing methods that can produce MNs directly from computer 3D models in a single operation. Additionally, it will include an evaluation of their advantages and disadvantages. This study also provides an overview of current research on 3D-printed MN-assisted delivery systems for drugs and explores the parameters that affect the mechanical characteristics of these MNs. To demonstrate the rate of progress in additive manufacturing of MN, a time series analysis of the publication was also carried out using a “single series” autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) forecast. Overall, the review demonstrates that additive manufacturing has excellent potential to create MNs because of its versatility, simplicity, high reproducibility, and accuracy. However, more research will be required in the future to enhance the strength of the printed parts and decrease manufacturing costs.