Edible QR Code Could Be the Medicine of the Future
New method could reduce cases of incorrect or fake medicines
Video credit: University of Copenhagen
For the last 100 years, researchers have constantly pushed the boundaries for our knowledge about medicine and how different bodies can respond differently to it. However, the methods for the production of medicine have not yet moved away from mass production. Many people with a certain illness get the same product with the equal amount of an active compound.
This type of production might soon be in the past. In a new study, researchers from the University of Copenhagen together with colleagues from Åbo Akademi University in Finland have developed a new method for producing medicine—creating a white edible material. Their method involves printing a QR code consisting of a medical drug.
"This technology is promising, because the medical drug can be dosed exactly the way you want it to. This gives an opportunity to tailor the medication according to the patient getting it," says Natalja Genina, assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacy.
Potential for reducing incorrect and fake medicine
The shape of a QR code also enables storage of data in the "pill" itself.
"Simply doing a quick scan, you can get all the information about the pharmaceutical product. In that sense it can potentially reduce cases of wrong medication and fake medicine," says Natalja Genina.
The researchers hope that in the future a regular printer will be able to apply the medical drug in the pattern of a QR code, while the edible material will have to be produced in advance to allow on-demand production of medical drugs near end-users.
"If we are successful with applying this production method to relatively simple printers, then it can enable the innovative production of personalized medicine and rethinking of the whole supply chain," says professor Jukka Rantanen from the Department of Pharmacy.
The researchers are now working to refine the methods for medical production.