News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
SafKan, a Tucson-based startup, has developed an innovative pair of 3D printed headphones—only they’re not for listening to music. The company, which was awarded Protolabs Cool Idea! award for its concept, has created a pair of medical headphones which can professionally clean a person’s ear in just 35 seconds.
The dental applications market is now increasingly seen as a key production market for 3D printing technologies and many feel that the paradigm shift will come to completion at this year’s IDS show in Koln. Several companies are gearing up, including ceramic 3D printer manufacturer Lithoz. The Austrian company will be presenting the new CeraFab 7500 Dental system at IDS next 12-16 March 2019.
axial3D, a UK-based medical 3D printing company is partnering with the University Hospital Basel in Switzerland to deliver advanced 3D printing solutions for improved patient care. Through the collaboration, the Swiss hospital will integrate axial3D’s cloud-based platform, axial3Dassure, into its 3D printing lab to improve its medical AM capabilities.
Additive Orthopaedics, a New Jersey-based producer of next-gen orthopaedic devices for the foot and ankle, has received FDA 510(k) clearance for its Patient Specific 3D Printed Locking Lattice Plates. The recently approved 3D printed device is designated for the alignment, stabilization and fusion of fractures, osteotomies and arthrodesis of the foot, ankle or other small bones.
Johnson & Johnson, a pharmaceutical, medical and consumer goods company that has been in operation for over a century, clearly understands what its target markets want. In the consumer goods arena, the company recently demonstrated just how well it is meeting these wants with the unveiling of its most personalized skincare product ever, the Neutrogena MaskiD. At the cutting edge of the beauty tech sector, the MaskiD combines Neutrogena Skin 360 technology with 3D printing to offer ultra-customized facial care.
Open Bionics, a UK-based company that develops low cost 3D printed bionic hands, has raised a whopping £4.66 million ($5.9 million) through a recent investment round. Investors include Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund, Downing Ventures, Ananda Impact Ventures and Rathbone Nominees.
On Tuesday, January 8, Dr. Samuel Joseph, Jr., assisted by Dr. Andrew Moulton of Joseph Spine became the first medical equip in the world to use Osseus Fusion Systems‘ revolutionary 3D Printed Aries Titanium Spinal Implant. The device was cleared by FDA just last August.
Metal additive manufacturing processes are helping engineers to reinvent how parts are designed and produced. In the medical sector, orthopaedic implants are proving to be one of the key applications where metal AM is really having an impact, as the technology enables patient specific structures, as well as complex porous geometries which in turn allow for more lightweight implants.
A joint team of researchers from American universities has developed a 3D printed device that is capable of absorbing excess chemotherapy drugs from a patient’s body. The novel device could make chemotherapy treatments more effective while reducing the negative side effects of the harsh drugs on cancer patients.
LimaCorporate, an Italian multinational specialized in orthopaedics, is partnering with the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS), one of the top orthopaedic hospitals in the U.S., to establish the first additive manufacturing facility for custom implants in a hospital environment. By founding the AM facility, the partners hope to improve the availability and accessibility of personalized orthopaedic care within the U.S.