1. Medtech Insight

3D Printing: Will Personalized Medical Devices Be The Next Big Thing?

Medical device manufacturers have a growing interest in 3D printing, a technology that could upend the manufacturing and distribution of certain medical devices and expand the scope of personalized medicine – especially in orthopedics, where it's used for some models, implants, and surgical cutting guides. Despite uncertainties related to regulation, reimbursement, and scaling up, global 3D printing revenues for medical and dental applications reached an estimated $537.1 million in 2014.

Bionic arms for kids, models of babies’ hearts, even fresh noses and ears printed out to replace injured ones – there seems to be no limit to what three-dimensional printing (3DP) can do. Every week brings news about new US Food and Drug Administration device approvals and new, imaginative applications of the technology, which allows for the just-in-time creation of a custom 3D object from plastics, metals, or even biological materials.

It’s part of the worldwide excitement about a technology that could upend manufacturing and distribution as we know them. The global 3DP market is growing at a blistering pace. According...

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