Pharmaceutical companies test drug manufacturing in space orbit

Several pharmaceutical companies have sent experiments into orbit to make better cancer drugs. BioOrbit, a UK startup, placed a small laboratory on the International Space Station. Varda Space Industries launched its W-7 spacecraft from Cape Canaveral on a SpaceX rocket to test a new type of cancer medicine called PROTACs.

In space, drug crystals grow more evenly because there is no gravity to disturb the process. On Earth, gravity causes particles to sink and liquids to move, which damages crystal quality. Better crystals dissolve more easily and work better inside the body.

BioOrbit hopes patients will eventually inject these treatments at home, without visiting a hospital. Scientists have studied proteins in space since the 1980s, but these missions focus on actually producing medicines in orbit.