Predictions for high precision 3D printing and healthcare innovation

High precision micro 3D printing and new materials will accelerate medical innovation that redefines patient care.

By John Kawola, Boston Micro Fabrication (BMF)

3D-printed glacoma stents with a penny for scale [Photo courtesy of Boston Micro Fabrication]

Additive manufacturing has continued to drive innovation across industries in recent years, with unique applications in medtech and life sciences. Throughout my 30-plus years in the 3D printing industry, I’ve watched the technology offer opportunities for industry innovation, solving pain points that have a direct impact on patients and life sciences research.

As the pace of innovation accelerates across the healthcare and biopharmaceutical sectors, researchers are looking for ways to adapt and advanced discovery. — and 3D printing can offer a unique solution. Whether by developing new therapies for hard-to-treat diseases such as cancer or Alzheimer’s, building medical technologies such as smart wearables, or personalizing medical devices that offer patients new treatment availability such as micro stents that treat glaucoma, 3D printing helps bring new precision and accelerated development cycles to these applications.

The recent trend of miniaturization across industries makes 3D printing even more attractive, and in some cases, it’s the only option to manufacture micro-sized parts with ultra-high precision. In 2025, I expect that micro 3D printing and the introduction of new materials for additive manufacturing — including those with increased biocompatibility and temperature-resistance — will accelerate medical innovation that redefines patient care.

1. Materials and production runs enable specialized applications

3D printing materials developed with specific applications in mind will enable new innovations. [Photo courtesy of Boston Micro Fabrication]

There’s growing demand for advanced materials with sensitivity to temperature and biocompatibility to support disease modeling, precision medicine and other specialized applications. Medical technologies must use sterile and biocompatible materials to ensure patient safety, which is one reason why 3D printing becomes an attractive option for product designers and engineers. The technology allows them to work with a variety of materials from prototyping to production and offers the ability to produce small quantities or single use materials for product testing.

Customization and single-use technologies are also common in healthcare, and 3D printing allows for more flexibility with lower sample runs than traditional manufacturing, making it a more cost-efficient option. Going forward, we’ll likely see 3D printing companies working closely with material scientists and researchers in niche applications to develop materials that are tailored to specific performance needs.

2. Innovation in niche medical areas led by 3D printing

A 3D-printed biochip [Photo courtesy of Boston Micro Fabrication]

In 2024, several new entrants to the medical device market had specialized focus areas that aimed to solve niche problems in subsectors of the medtech industry. For example, Pristine Surgical recently used 3D printing in the design process for arthroscope tips that will help to simplify endoscopic procedures with high-resolution 4K imaging.

High-precision micro 3D printing solutions are also advancing therapeutic medicine via the improvement of tools that can be used to propel pharmaceutical research and development (R&D). Microfluidic devices (often called lab-on-a-chip or organ-on-a-chip platforms),are used in pharmaceutical research to mimic human biology, offering scientists a more accurate depiction of bodily responses to new drugs and treatments in the testing phase. These devices can be used in medical research across application areas from drug development to disease treatment.

I expect that companies will home in on the ways in which their technology uniquely solves design or production pain points in medtech and healthcare. There will also likely be a focus on using 3D printing to accelerate life sciences research, bypassing expensive and time-intensive in vivo studies while offering a reliable alternative.

3. Miniaturization of medtech will continue leading innovation

A 3D-printed microneedle atop a pencil eraser [Photo courtesy of Boston Micro Fabrication]

The rise of miniaturization in therapeutic delivery methods and intra-procedural components has made micro 3D printing more appealing, as it is ideal for use in circumstances where innovative solutions require micron-level precision. In some instances, additive manufacturing may be the only solution that can repeatedly achieve the tight tolerances required of many parts.

Researchers recently utilized micro 3D printing technology to make bio-inspired intratumoral catheters. Designed to improve the delivery of medication to fight liver tumors, specifications for the catheter included 0.4 mm side holes and finely detailed barbs that couldn’t be made by a traditional manufacturing method. When researchers used 3D printing to manufacture this device, they found that this tiny catheter led to 183 times higher drug concentration delivered to the target area, which has promising implications for ultra-targeted cancer therapies.

Ultra-high-resolution parts are often essential, but harder to manufacture as parts get smaller. In the face of these challenges, there will be increased adoption of micro 3D printing across the industry to further medical care and life science research from drug development to surgical tools.

As we kick off another year of exciting innovations and progress in medicine, aided largely by unique technologies like 3D printing, I am excited to see what comes next in the field. In my own sphere, I look forward to expanding into end-use applications in dental and medical environments and supporting customers as they continue to drive innovation in their respective industries.

Boston Micro Fabrication CEO-Global Operations John Kawola [Photo courtesy of Boston Micro Fabrication]

John Kawola is CEO-global operations of Boston Micro Fabrication (BMF), which is focused on introducing and scaling micro-3D printing technology to a range of industries that demand a high level of resolution and precision. Kawola has more than two decades of business leadership experience across the additive manufacturing, 3D printing and materials science industries.

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The opinions expressed in this blog post are the author’s only and do not necessarily reflect those of Medical Design & Outsourcing or its employees.