Pharmaceutical three-dimensional (3D) printing has led to a paradigm shift in the way medicines are designed and manufactured, moving away from the traditional ‘one-size-fits-all’ approaches and advancing towards personalised medicines. Among different 3D printing techniques, vat photopolymerisation 3D printing affords superior printing resolution, which in turn enables fabrication of micro-structures and smooth finishes.

This thesis aims to investigate different vat photopolymerisation 3D printing techniques for the fabrication of personalised drug delivery devices for different routes of administration. Stereolithography (SLA) and digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing was used to manufacture devices with flexible materials for localised delivery of a single drug in the bladder and at the anterior segment of the eye. In vitro release studies demonstrated drug releases from these devices were sustained over weeks. Subsequently, to investigate the feasibility of loading more than one drug in a single dosage form, clinically relevant multi-layer antihypertensive polypills were fabricated using SLA 3D printing. A drug-photopolymer interaction was observed from these polypills, and Michael’s addition reaction was confirmed to have occurred. Despite these studies demonstrating the viable use of vat photopolymerization 3D printing for fabricating drug delivery devices, the bulky nature of current printers could be a barrier to clinical integration. As such, a smartphone-enabled DLP 3D printing system was developed to fabricate personalised oral dosage forms and patient-specific drug delivery devices. The portability of this printer could secure exciting opportunities for manufacturing personalised medicines at point-of-care settings. Overall, this thesis showed the potential of vat photopolymerisation 3D printing in preparing different patient-centric drug delivery devices with tuneable and sustained release profiles as well as advancing traditional treatments towards digital healthcare.