3D printing/Additive manufacturing

ROE TEST SWAB PHOTO COURTESY OF ROE DENTAL LABS

3D printed NP test swabs; personal protective equipment

In partnership with Formlabs, USF Health, Tampa General Hospital, and Norwell Health, ROE Laboratories has been granted a production license for 3D-printed nasopharyngeal (NP) test swabs. The current product capacity is more than 21,000 test swabs per day. The swabs are being printed from biocompatible, autoclavable, and FDA cleared surgical guide resin.

In addition to swabs, ROE has also created two personal protective equipment options: 3D-printed headgear with a replaceable face shield and disposable headgear/face shield option. ROE has the capacity to provide more than 1,000 shields per day.

EnvisionTEC SWABS photos courtesy of envisiontec

EnvisionTEC 3D printing nasopharyngeal swabs

A clinical trial using EnvisionTEC 3D-printed nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs for COVID-19 testing will help address the shortage of the test devices. One advantage of the EnvisionTEC NP swab is it performed the same, mechanically, after being sterilized by steam at 270°F at 27Pa in an autoclave. E-Guide Soft, a biomedically safe 3D printing material from EnvisionTEC, and EnvisionTEC’s swab design have both passed all required tests.

EnvisionTEC worked with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) to develop a swab design and material to be printed on its Envision One cDLM 3D printer, which can produce up to 2,400 swabs in 24 hours.

EnvisionTEC, and a growing number of their Envision One cDLM customers who have also registered with the FDA, have the mass production capabilities to produce up to one million swabs per day.