Artificial intelligence (AI) encompasses a broad spectrum of techniques that have been utilized by pharmaceutical companies for decades, including machine learning, deep learning, and other advanced computational methods. These innovations have unlocked unprecedented opportunities for the acceleration of drug discovery and delivery, the optimization of treatment regimens, and the improvement of patient outcomes. AI is swiftly transforming the pharmaceutical industry, revolutionizing everything from drug development and discovery to personalized medicine, including target identification and validation, selection of excipients, prediction of the synthetic route, supply chain optimization, monitoring during continuous manufacturing processes, or predictive maintenance, among others. While the integration of AI promises to enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and improve both medicines and patient health, it also raises important questions from a regulatory point of view. In this review article, we will present a comprehensive overview of AI’s applications in the pharmaceutical industry, covering areas such as drug discovery, target optimization, personalized medicine, drug safety, and more. By analyzing current research trends and case studies, we aim to shed light on AI’s transformative impact on the pharmaceutical industry and its broader implications for healthcare.

3D printing technologies enable medicine customization adapted to patients’ needs. There are several 3D printing techniques available, but majority of dosage forms and medical devices are printed using nozzle-based extrusion, laser-writing systems, and powder binder jetting. 3D printing has been demonstrated for a broad range of applications in development and targeting solid, semi-solid, and locally applied or implanted medicines. 3D-printed solid dosage forms allow the combination of one or more drugs within the same solid dosage form to improve patient compliance, facilitate deglutition, tailor the release profile, or fabricate new medicines for which no dosage form is available. Sustained-release 3D-printed implants, stents, and medical devices have been used mainly for joint replacement therapies, medical prostheses, and cardiovascular applications. Locally applied medicines, such as wound dressing, microneedles, and medicated contact lenses, have also been manufactured using 3D printing techniques. The challenge is to select the 3D printing technique most suitable for each application and the type of pharmaceutical ink that should be developed that possesses the required physicochemical and biological performance. The integration of biopharmaceuticals and nanotechnology-based drugs along with 3D printing (“nanoprinting”) brings printed personalized nanomedicines within the most innovative perspectives for the coming years. Continuous manufacturing through the use of 3D-printed microfluidic chips facilitates their translation into clinical practice.

Currently, there is an unmet need to manufacture nanomedicines in a continuous and controlled manner. Three-dimensional (3D) printed microfluidic chips are an alternative to conventional PDMS chips as they can be easily designed and manufactured to allow for customized designs that are able to reproducibly manufacture nanomedicines at an affordable cost. The manufacturing of microfluidic chips using existing 3D printing technologies remains very challenging because of the intricate geometry of the channels. Here, we demonstrate the manufacture and characterization of nifedipine (NFD) polymeric nanoparticles based on Eudragit L-100 using 3D printed microfluidic chips with 1 mm diameter channels produced with two 3D printing techniques that are widely available, stereolithography (SLA) and fuse deposition modeling (FDM). Fabricated polymeric nanoparticles showed good encapsulation efficiencies and particle sizes in the range of 50–100 nm. SLA chips possessed better channel resolution and smoother channel surfaces, leading to smaller particle sizes similar to those obtained by conventional manufacturing methods based on solvent evaporation, while SLA manufactured nanoparticles showed a minimal burst effect in acid media compared to nanoparticles fabricated with FDM chips. Three-dimensional printed microfluidic chips are a novel and easily amenable cost-effective strategy to allow for customization of the design process for continuous manufacture of nanomedicines under controlled conditions, enabling easy scale-up and reducing nanomedicine development times, while maintaining high-quality standards.

Fungal keratitis (FK), a severe eye infection that leads to vision impairment and blindness, poses a high risk to contact lens users, and Candida albicans remains the most common underpinning fungal pathogen in temperate climates. Patients are initially treated empirically (econazole 1% drops hourly for 24–48 h), and if there is no response, amphotericin B (AmB) 0.15% eye drops (extemporaneously manufactured to be stable for a week) are the gold-standard treatment. Here, we aim to develop a sustained-release AmB ocular film to treat FK with an enhanced corneal retention time. As there is a paucity of reliable in vitro models to evaluate ocular drug release and antifungal efficacy under flow, we developed a 3D-printed microfluidic device based on four chambers stacked in parallel, in which lenses previously inoculated with a C. albicans suspension were placed. Under the flow of a physiological fluid over 24 h, the release from the AmB-loaded film that was placed dry onto the surface of the wetted contact lenses was quantified, and their antifungal activity was assessed. AmB sodium deoxycholate micelle (dimeric form) was mixed with sodium alginate and hyaluronic acid (3:1 w/w) and cast into films (0.48 or 2.4%), which showed sustained release over 24 h and resulted in a 1.23-fold reduction and a 5.7-fold reduction in CFU/mL of C. albicans, respectively. This study demonstrates that the sustained delivery of dimeric AmB can be used for the treatment of FK and provides a facile in vitro microfluidic model for the development and testing of ophthalmic antimicrobial therapies.

Melatonin’s antioxidant properties make it a valuable component in anti-aging semisolid topical products. This study explores the role of Pemulen^®, an acrylic-based viscosifying agent, in stabilizing cream-gel formulations. Remarkably, even at low concentrations (0.4%), Pemulen^® successfully produced physicochemical stable topical formulations. In this work, the impact of the ratio of the oily phase—comprising olive oil and isopropyl myristate from 0 to 20%—was investigated to understand the internal microstructure effect on skin permeability, rheological properties, and stability. The formulations exhibited pseudoplastic behavior, with a significant positive correlation (p-value < 0.1) between the oily phase ratio, viscosity, spreadability, skin adhesiveness, and permeability. Formulations without the oil phase exhibited greater skin permeability. However, higher oily phase content enhanced viscosity, spreadability, and skin adhesion. Given that melatonin primarily degrades through oxidation, incorporating antioxidant excipients in semisolid formulations is crucial for maintaining its chemical stability. A quality by design (QbD) approach was used to assess the impact of four excipients—(a) DL-α-tocopheryl acetate (0.05%), (b) ascorbic acid (0.1%), (c) ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (0.1%), and (d) sodium metabisulphite (0.5%)—on melatonin’s stability. Our findings indicate that maintaining the physical stability of the formulation with a 20% oil phase is more critical for protecting melatonin from oxidation than merely adding antioxidant excipients.