Drugs in Orbit: One Startup’s Big Idea for Microgravity

Varda Space Industries is developing an automated drug lab that fits into a space capsule, with the goal of making industrial-size batches of new pharma products in traditional factories. The company's first capsule will fly aboard a Space Exploration Technologies Corp. rocket in June.

March 16, 2023 . 9:08 AM

1 min read

Varda Space Industries has developed an automated drug lab that fits into a space capsule.
The capsule looks like a miniaturized version of the cone-shaped craft that bring humans back from the ISS.
Varda plans to use robots to mix, heat and cool chemical compounds suitable for drug development, which will then be converted into a solid form and returned to Earth.
The company's first capsule will fly aboard a Space Exploration Technologies Corp. rocket in June.
Varda has raised $53 million from investors including Caffeinated Capital, Fifty Years Industries, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures and Lux Capital.