3 ms·
Drugs in Orbit: One Startup’s Big Idea for Microgravity
- ryzvonusef 4y ago> Varda Space Industries, based near Los Angeles, is betting that the time for orbital laboratories has finally arrived. It’s developed an automated drug lab that fits into a space capsule. > 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, where it hopes they’ll serve as the basis for making industrial-size batches of new pharma products in traditional factories. Among the products it is likely to pursue are novel cancer therapies, as well as treatments for diabetes and chronic pain > Numerous promising drugs can crystallize when stored, rendering them unusable on humans. Infamously, this issue forced a stop to the sales of the pill form of the HIV drug Ritonavir in the late 1990s, after years of research and hundreds of millions of dollars in investment. Varda’s executives think the company can use orbital labs to kick-start development of new versions of many older drugs in safe pill and injectable forms.
- dekhn 4y agoThis is a garbage idea.