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It is a depressing and pessimistic way to look at the world! > Varda demonstrated crystallizing ritonavir (presumably without getting form II). > This is alre

It is a depressing and pessimistic way to look at the world! > Varda demonstrated crystallizing ritonavir (presumably without getting form II). > This is already done at scale on Earth. Is it? The crux of the issue seems to be that this can't be reliably crystalized under gravity and the issue of "disappearing polymorphs" can be avoided. > and these are the same people who couldn't get their shit together to get a permit to land their spacecraft on time. The issue appears to stem from the FAA's side of things. One could argue Varda shouldn't have gone forward with only a verbal agreement from the FAA in hand, but that's hardly "not having their shit together".

avmich 3y ago
Saying "human shouldn't fly to space" is like saying "we shouldn't build particle accelerators or sequence DNAs". It's purely uneducated point of view, which doesn't cost much. No reason for depression at all.
Hizonner 3y ago
> Is it? It's part of the standard HIV therapy, which means it's being given to literally millions of people on a regular basis. A generic version is approved in the US, and probably elsewhere, which means that more than one company is making it. It's a WHO-listed essential medicine. Short of ibuprofen or something, that's about as "at scale" as it gets for drugs. > The crux of the issue seems to be that this can't be reliably crystalized under gravity and the issue of "disappearing polymorphs" can be avoided. Apparently it can be crystallized reliably enough to support heavy use. There was a bad problem in 1998 where a more stable, but less potent, form was showing up. Apparently if there's even a tiny bit of that in a batch, it propagates and ruins the whole batch, so forward microcontamination was ruining all the batches. I think that was the first time anybody knew that that form even existed. My guess is that that is happening in approximately zero batches right now. But even if it's ruining half the batches, throwing them away is still cheaper than trying to do it in space.
Hizonner 3y ago
> One could argue Varda shouldn't have gone forward with only a verbal agreement from the FAA in hand, but that's hardly "not having their shit together". Yeah, it really is. They took dumb chances and endangered their mission. You can't cut corners on that kind of thing. ... and that's assuming you fully accept their version of events.
- knowaveragejoe 3y ago
  It could only be construed as dumb insofar as we assume the FAA's side of things is totally sane in its own right. Which, knowing government, it's probably not.
  - Hizonner 3y ago
    The more insane you think the FAA is, the dumber it is not to get a signed-off formal permit in writing with an embossed gold seal and a certified copy deposited with the Pope. Or whatever.

avmich 3y ago

Saying "human shouldn't fly to space" is like saying "we shouldn't build particle accelerators or sequence DNAs". It's purely uneducated point of view, which doesn't cost much. No reason for depression at all.

Hizonner 3y ago

> Is it? It's part of the standard HIV therapy, which means it's being given to literally millions of people on a regular basis. A generic version is approved in the US, and probably elsewhere, which means that more than one company is making it. It's a WHO-listed essential medicine. Short of ibuprofen or something, that's about as "at scale" as it gets for drugs. > The crux of the issue seems to be that this can't be reliably crystalized under gravity and the issue of "disappearing polymorphs" can be avoided. Apparently it can be crystallized reliably enough to support heavy use. There was a bad problem in 1998 where a more stable, but less potent, form was showing up. Apparently if there's even a tiny bit of that in a batch, it propagates and ruins the whole batch, so forward microcontamination was ruining all the batches. I think that was the first time anybody knew that that form even existed. My guess is that that is happening in approximately zero batches right now. But even if it's ruining half the batches, throwing them away is still cheaper than trying to do it in space.

Hizonner 3y ago

> One could argue Varda shouldn't have gone forward with only a verbal agreement from the FAA in hand, but that's hardly "not having their shit together". Yeah, it really is. They took dumb chances and endangered their mission. You can't cut corners on that kind of thing. ... and that's assuming you fully accept their version of events.

knowaveragejoe 3y ago
It could only be construed as dumb insofar as we assume the FAA's side of things is totally sane in its own right. Which, knowing government, it's probably not.
- Hizonner 3y ago
  The more insane you think the FAA is, the dumber it is not to get a signed-off formal permit in writing with an embossed gold seal and a certified copy deposited with the Pope. Or whatever.