First Space Factory Producing Medicines: Unique Benefits of Microgravity Manufacturing

2023-06-27 13:20:13

A Falcon 9 rocket put the space factory into orbit. (Photo: Varda Space Industries)

The special circumstances in space could have a positive effect on the production of certain medicines. A first space factory has already started work.

Currently in orbit is a space factory whose products could benefit many people. Medicines are manufactured high above the earth, which could also have a special effect due to the special circumstances of their manufacture.

Specifically, a W-Series 1 satellite from Californian startup Varda Space Industries is in orbit, which is essentially a test version of a complete manufacturing factory. In it, the company wants to produce drugs and other products that could perform better in the microgravity of space than variants produced on Earth.

Weightlessness offers completely different production conditions

Molecules and atoms behave very differently in zero gravity, which is why certain drugs can be more easily crystallized, synthesized and manufactured there. An example of this is the ingredient pembrolizumab, which is required for certain cancer drugs. It is used to treat melanoma, lung cancer and Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

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Since 2019, scientists on the International Space Station ISS have also been working on making the cancer drug Keytruda more stable using pembrolizumab. It could then possibly be administered to patients in a different form than the infusion previously used.

In addition to cancer, HIV drugs are also tested

Varda Space Industries’ space factory, launched into orbit by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, is also said to be fighting another disease: AIDS. Research is now being carried out in space with the drug ritonavir, which is used to treat HIV infections.

Varda Space Industries CEO Will Bruey recently told Bloomberg that his company has created a unique ability to manipulate chemical systems. “And the most expensive chemical systems on earth are medicines. We knew making them in space is the microgravity killer app.”

The space factory is scheduled to spend a month in space before landing at the US Department of Defense test and training facility in Utah. This should then also be the starting point for other space factories, in which, in addition to medicines, completely different things such as fiber optic cables could be manufactured.