Meds are getting cooked and tested in orbit, and an ASX stock is part of the action

News.com.au

06-05-2025

Space could make drugs purer and better
Varda brews HIV meds in orbit, lands in SA
Trajan's technology tracks pill effects for astronauts
Medicine in space.
Sounds like something out of Star Trek or Dune, but this isn't sci-fi anymore. It's the next frontier for real-world healthcare.
Forget Martian hospitals, what's really getting scientists and investors fired up is how outer space, specifically microgravity, could help us make better and more effective drugs.
The core idea is simple: when you float, your molecules do, too.
In space, the rules of physics play out differently; gravity's grip loosens and under microgravity conditions, drug ingredients can, in theory, form in purer, more perfect ways.
That's a big deal because the way a drug crystal forms can affect how well it works, how long it lasts and how easily it's absorbed by your body.
If you've ever sat in a hospital chair for hours waiting for a drip to finish, you'll get why pharmaceutical companies are pumped about the chance to make treatments that are faster to deliver.
Cooking real meds in space
Varda Space is taking that vision and strapping it to a rocket.
This California startup isn't chasing satellites or space tourism, it's using orbit as a lab.
Varda is building space capsules designed to act like mini drug labs in orbit, running experiments that test how medicine behaves when gravity lets go.
The company is betting that by manufacturing drugs in microgravity, they'll land back on Earth stronger, purer, and more effective. It's space as a service, with pharma as the customer.
Varda's first major breakthrough came with ritonavir, the HIV treatment; as well as key ingredient in Covid-19 antiviral Paxlovid, both manufactured inside its W-1 capsule.
W-1 circled the planet, made its batch, and then returned to earth, proving this whole idea might just fly commercially.
Australia on the map
And here's where Australia comes into the picture.
Varda's follow-up mission, with a new capsule named W-2, ended with a dramatic touchdown in South Australia in February, at the Koonibba Test Range.
After six weeks orbiting Earth, W-2 came screaming back through the atmosphere.
This mission was also a key test of advanced thermal protection systems, gathering critical data on how heat shields perform during high-speed reentry.
That fiery landing marked a milestone for Aussie space infrastructure, too, as Koonibba positions itself as a serious player in global aerospace.
Trajan's tech joins the cosmic pharmacy
But there's another angle quietly orbiting this story, an Aussie company that's not making drugs in space, but testing how they work once they're up there.
The company is Trajan Group (ASX:TRJ) – a life sciences outfit that makes precision tools –and it's playing a crucial role in figuring out how our bodies respond to medicine in microgravity.
The company's brand Neoteryx donated its Mitra micro-sampling devices to a recent space mission called Polaris Dawn.
The Polaris Dawn mission was part of a private spaceflight program backed by billionaire Jared Isaacman, and flown aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon.
The study had astronauts self-collecting tiny blood samples after taking paracetamol in space.
Three doses: one before takeoff, one mid-flight, and one back on solid ground.
The goal is to figure out whether drugs behave differently when your body's floating in microgravity.
Does it hit faster? Stay longer? Cause different side effects?
And this isn't some clunky hospital kit.
The Mitra device is sleek and portable, designed for people to collect blood from their finger or arm with minimal fuss. Perfect for space, where traditional lab setups are a no-go.
The data from Polaris Dawn are currently being studied, and could lead to real breakthroughs in how we dose medication for future astronauts, or even patients on Earth with similar physical stressors.
However, there's still a long road ahead.
Space drug manufacturing and testing are still expensive, hard to scale, and wrapped in red tape.
But while space tourism grabs the headlines, the real cosmic gold rush in the future might be in something far more useful: a smarter way to make and use medicine.