Imagine a childhood in which all of your medications taste good, while simultaneously coming in the exact serving size you need — no wait times for the pharmacy to reformulate them, no adult-sized pills that must be tediously cut in half and no “grape” flavors that taste absolutely nothing like grape. Thanks to the groundbreaking work of Texas A&M University’s Dr. Mansoor Khan, this once-futuristic idea is becoming a life-saving reality.
On Sept. 18, Khan, dean of the Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy, will speak at the Fast Company Innovation Festival to discuss his pioneering work using 3D printers to customize medication as part of the “Leaping to New Heights: The Unparalleled Progress in Healthcare” panel. The panelists will discuss innovations in medicine that are improving people’s lives in ways once thought impossible.
In honor of Khan’s remarkable medical invention, Texas A&M has been selected as an honoree of Fast Company’s 2025 Innovation by Design Awards, which recognizes some of the most forward-thinking minds in the business and academic worlds. Judges look at the potential impact of hundreds of projects, evaluating the “functionality, originality, beauty, sustainability, user insight, cultural impact and business impact” of each. The award also provides each invention with a global stage that can help spread its future impact on the world.
A Precision Prescription for Pediatric Patients
While coming up with precise medication doses for adults is challenging, it’s even more challenging for children. To make this process more efficient, Khan has developed an innovative method to engineer personalized, variable dosages for pediatric patients using 3D printing.
This research is a potential game-changer as children often lack a wide range of commercially available drugs, forcing pharmacists to manipulate adult pills. This process, known as compounding, often leads to imprecise dosages and questionable quality.
“The way we administer medication to children these days is very inefficient,” Khan said. “Liquid dosages can be more easily scaled down for children, but not all medications are in liquid dosage form, and it’s not very easy to make a liquid dosage form. It’s even more difficult for solid medications to be converted to liquid medications extemporaneously without a compromise in the quality.”
That’s where 3D printing comes in. Through 3D printing and a process called “layering,” Khan has found a way to produce dose-flexible tablets tailored to a child’s weight and age, ensuring the accurate amount of medication. This technology also allows for tablets to be made in child-friendly shapes and flavors, improving compliance and making a once-difficult process much easier for families.
Photos by Abbey Santoro/Texas A&M University Division of Marketing & Communications
“We are 3D printing medications, which gives us those flexible dosage forms, so we can change the dosages for children by making dose-flexible medications extemporaneously for the pediatric patients. With this innovation, you are giving the precise dose in the precise amount to a pediatric patient, very easily,” Khan said.
This new approach will help boost the reliability of correct dosages by utilizing an automated system. The result of the new method will be dose-flexible antiviral as well as other therapeutic categories of products that can be provided by hospitals for children’s medication needs.
From Lab to Life-Changing Innovation
Khan’s career in pharmaceutics has been both long and accomplished. After earning his doctorate from St. Johns University College of Pharmacy, he went on to teach at Texas Tech University’s School of Pharmacy and then worked at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a division director for 11 years.
While at the FDA, he led a research team that reviewed and approved the first-ever 3D-printed medication tablet dosage forms.
“That approved product was for a geriatric purpose. We realized it could be valuable for the pediatric population too, as they need dosage flexibility because of changing age and growth,” Khan said.
Today, he works with a talented interdisciplinary group of Aggie researchers and is paving the way to reliably produce accurate medication dosages for children of any age. His method will reduce the burden on pharmacists and help children receive the exact amount of medicine they need. His work is a reflection of the mission of Texas A&M to be a force for good in every field and for every person.
