A British startup, BioOrbit, has taken a giant leap into the final frontier by sending its drug-crystallisation technology to the International Space Station (ISS). The company's Box-E unit, roughly the size of a microwave, was launched aboard a SpaceX rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on 15 May. Its mission: to grow ultra-pure protein crystals in microgravity, with the ultimate goal of producing self-injected cancer medications.
How Microgravity Enables Superior Crystallisation
The Box-E unit will remain in orbit for approximately six weeks, where the near-weightless environment allows pharmaceutical compounds to crystallise into highly pure and stable structures. These crystals cannot be formed on Earth due to gravity's negative impact on the crystallisation process. Dr Katie King, co-founder and chief executive of BioOrbit, who holds a PhD in nanomedicine from Cambridge University and interned at Nasa, describes the orbital tests as a "big step change towards large-scale production of protein crystals in space."
"Gravity negatively impacts crystallisation," King explains. "That becomes really critical for protein drugs, antibody drugs because they are very large and very flexible molecules. So through going to space you see a much better, more superior crystallisation process than what you can achieve here on Earth."
Transforming Cancer Treatment with Self-Injection
Once the crystals return to Earth, they can be formulated into cancer medications that patients can store in a refrigerator and self-inject at home or work. This eliminates the need for hospital visits for lengthy intravenous immunotherapy infusions. The drugs also boast a longer shelf life. For cancer treatments, a large dose is required, but the liquid can become too thick for injection pens. "Which is why we don't have these treatments at home already," King notes. "Through using crystals, you can get these really concentrated formulations that will have a low enough viscosity that they can still flow through the needle."
Hundreds of experiments on the ISS have already validated the process. US pharmaceutical company Merck successfully produced protein crystals for its blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda, enabling a quick injection instead of a lengthy IV infusion. The US health regulator approved this new delivery method in September.
Economic and Scalable Potential
Despite the high cost of space launches, King argues that shifting to self-injection at home could save the NHS and other health systems "millions, potentially billions" of pounds. If orbital tests prove successful, multiple Box-E units can be stacked together to scale up pharmaceutical manufacturing in space. BioOrbit aims to process thousands of litres of fluid per box annually and believes a handful of units in constant use could produce enough for a blockbuster drug.
Founded in 2023 by King and medical doctor and cancer researcher Leonor Teles, BioOrbit raised £9.8 million from investors last month, led by UK venture capital firm LocalGlobe and Paris-based Breega. The company also secured a £250,000 contract from the UK Space Agency in March to manufacture drugs in microgravity.
Elon Musk's SpaceX recently highlighted in-space manufacturing of pharmaceuticals as a key revenue stream in its stock market flotation prospectus, estimating a $22.7 trillion market for enterprise applications. BioOrbit aims to be part of this burgeoning industry.
Timeline and Broader Applications
King cautions that it will take at least five years for the new cancer drug formulations to reach the market, as they must undergo clinical trials and regulatory approval. However, the crystallisation technology has potential beyond oncology. Approximately 70% of the world's top-selling drugs are administered intravenously in hospitals or clinics. BioOrbit will partner with pharmaceutical companies to produce its cancer drugs and has already attracted interest from several multinational groups in the UK and US.
Other players are also entering the space pharmaceuticals field. California-based Varda Space Industries has flown small capsules to process pharmaceuticals in orbit and is collaborating with US biotech United Therapeutics Corporation to develop treatments for rare lung disease.
