Personalized Vaginal Drug Delivery through 3D Printing: Techniques, Challenges, and Future Perspectives

Vaginal disorders in reproductive‑age women, including bacterial vaginosis (affecting 23–29%), endometriosis, etc., are increasing alarmingly day by day worldwide. Vaginal drug delivery (VDD) has garnered notable attention in the pharmaceutical field for the localized and systemic treatment of several hormonal and gynaecological conditions. Conventional treatments remain inadequate due to high relapse rates, local and systemic side effects, compliance, invasiveness, drug resistance, adherence, safety, etc. Additive manufacturing, particularly 3D Printing (3DP), is reshaping pharmaceutical sciences by enabling the fabrication of personalized and novel drug delivery solutions. In addition, 3D Printed VDD systems (VDDS) offer highly customized and patient-specific dosage forms that possess controlled release kinetics and precise control over drug deposition, ultimately leading to increased patient adherence. This review comprehensively examines the state-of-the-art in 3DP technologies and critical considerations such as material selection, impact on drug release mechanisms, mechanical properties, and biocompatibility of the formulations, current regulatory landscape, and future perspectives of 3DP in VDD. This eventually paves the way for better patient-centered therapeutic solutions. Graphical Abstract Similar content being viewed by others

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Nat Mater. 2016;15:413–8. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4544 Khoo ZX, Teoh JEM, Liu Y, Chua CK, Yang S, An J, et al. 3D printing of smart materials: A review on recent progresses in 4D printing. Virtual Phys Prototyp. 2015;10:103–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/17452759.2015.1097054 Parhi R. A review of three-dimensional printing for pharmaceutical applications: Quality control, risk assessment and future perspectives. J Drug Deliv Sci Technol. 2021.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jddst.2021.102571 Funding This is a review article and, thus, has not received any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. The authors sincerely thank the Institute of Pharmacy, Nirma University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, for providing the necessary facilities and academic support that enabled the preparation of this work. Author information Authors and Affiliations Contributions Shailvi Shah - Conceptualization, writing original draft and editing. Tejal Mehta - Conceptualization, supervising, reviewing and editing. Corresponding author Ethics declarations Declaration of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process During the preparation of this work, the author(s) used Quill Bot and Grammarly SERVICE in order to improve scientific writing and the English language after using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the publication Competing Interest The authors have nothing to declare. Additional information Publisher's Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Highlights • Additive manufacturing enables unprecedented customization in vaginal drug delivery. • Material choice greatly affects drug release, mechanical properties, and biocompatibility. • 3D-printed vaginal devices allow precise, controlled, and patient-specific drug release. • Recent studies show encouraging outcomes for 3DP vaginal therapies. Rights and permissions Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law. About this article Cite this article Shah, S., Mehta, T. Personalized Vaginal Drug Delivery through 3D Printing: Techniques, Challenges, and Future Perspectives. AAPS PharmSciTech 27, 45 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1208/s12249-025-03275-5 Received: Accepted: Published: Version of record: DOI: https://doi.org/10.1208/s12249-025-03275-5