In recent years, the 3D printing of personalized drug formulations has attracted the attention of medical practitioners and academics. However, there is a lack of data-based analyses on the hotspots and trends of research in this field. Therefore, in this study, we performed a bibliometric analysis to summarize the 3D printing research in the field of personalized drug formulation from 2012 to 2022. This study was based on the Web of Science Core Collection Database, and a total of 442 eligible publications were screened. Using VOSviewer and online websites for bibliometric analysis and scientific mapping, it was observed that annual publications have shown a significant growth trend over the last decade. The United Kingdom and the United States, which account for 45.5% of the total number of publications, are the main drivers of this field. The International Journal of Pharmaceutics and University College London are the most prolific and cited journals and institutions. The researchers with the most contributions are Basit, Abdul W. and Goyanes Alvaro. The keyword analysis concluded that the current research hotspots are “drug release” and “drug dosage forms”. In conclusion, 3D printing has broad application prospects in the field of personalized drugs, which will bring the pharmaceutical industry into a new era of innovation.

Direct compression (DC) attracts increasing attention for tablet manufacturing; however, its application in medicinal plant tablets is still extremely limited. In this work, eight kinds of the Gardeniae fructus water extract powder (GF)-based composite particles (CPs) were prepared with different cohesive surface engineering materials, including dextran, inulin, hypromellose, and povidone, alone or in combination with mannitol and colloidal silica. Their physical properties and compacting parameters were characterized comprehensively. All the CPs showed marked improvement in tabletability, which is about 2–4 times higher than that of GF and physical mixtures (PMs). Specifically, the CPs showed a 7.45–26.48 times higher hardness (Ha) value and a 1.26–2.74 times higher cohesiveness (Co) value than PMs. In addition, all the CPs (angle of repose being from 34.27° to 38.46°) showed better flowability than PMs (35.49° to 53.53°) and GF (51.86°). These results demonstrated that (i) fluid-bed coating was not a simple process of superposition and transmission of the physical properties of raw materials; and (ii) all the surface engineering materials studied could improve the DC properties of problematic GF to some degree. As a whole, through the design of fluid-bed coating CPs, qualified tablets with high GF loadings (up to 93%) were produced via DC. Graphical Abstract