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# 3D Printing of Drugs Can Extent Patent Lives: Lawyer
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/3d-printing-of-drugs-can-extent-patent-lives-lawyer/
- Published: 2016-01-21T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-15T02:29:53.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5134496

> FDA approved last year Aprecia Pharmaceutical’s Spritam (levetiracatam) as the “first 3D printed drug product.” Attorney **Jesse Salen** (Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton) cites the approval in an online blog [post](http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=1ad6fe0a-dbfd-4f2c-9653-3f8742bf3311&ref=fdaweb.com) as an example of how the patentable life of 3D printers can be extended.  
>  
> Spritam is indicated to treat partial onset seizures, myoclonic seizures, and primary generalized tonic-clonic seizures in adults and children with epilepsy. The company has said that applying 3D printing technology to the formation of the Spritam pill improves patient experiences and decreases overall costs by enabling drug delivery of up to 1,000 mg in a single dose, meaning that patients are more likely to adhere to treatment plans.  
>  
> “Specifically,” Salen says, “3D printing technology enables pharmaceutical companies to more precisely control key parameters of pill formation, such as surface area-to-volume ratios, which are important to controlling the kinetics of drug release…. The technology may similarly be applied to many other cutting-edge pharmaceutical applications, such as bioprinting of stem cells, or even entire human organs.”  
>  
> Salen writes that just as pharmaceutical innovators have learned to extend a technology’s patentable life by innovating new applications or improvements for known pharmaceuticals, Aprecia has applied similar principles to innovate new patentable life into 3D printing technology.  
>  
> “With its approval of Spritam, FDA has paved the way for new innovation in bio-pharmaceutical related 3D printing technology,” he concludes. “Aprecia already has filed several patent applications in various jurisdictions, and we expect that other pharmaceutical companies will follow suit. Indeed, new innovations to old technologies can be patentable, lucrative, and important. In some cases these innovations may even save lives.”