The Right Prescription

After a visit to a doctor, we can often pick up medication straight away from the chemist – it's fast, but it could be faster - what if we could just eat the prescription? This purple-coloured Quick Response (QR) code is printed on an edible paper-like material – the ink is mixed with a drug. In a clinical situation, prescribing the right drugs is often delayed by the necessary checks of medical records, making sure each patient receives their recommended dose. In future this could be as simple as scanning the QR code with a smart phone, then passing the piece of paper soaked in the right dose (right) to the patient to eat. Each tiny square can be stored for weeks in humid conditions, but last for months if kept dry. Pharmacoprinting may help towards personalised medicine – allowing subtle changes in dose over the course of recovery.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Image from work by Magnus Edinger and colleagues
• Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
• Image copyright Elsevier 2018. Reproduced with permission.
• Published in the International Journal of Pharmaceutics, January 2018