A plan to make drugs in orbit is going commercial
May 18, 2026

(MIT Tech Review) – United Therapeutics is collaborating with Varda Space Industries to test pharmaceuticals in outer space.
The idea of building things in outer space for use on Earth has so far been explored mostly on board the International Space Station, and only in small-scale experiments backed by governments.
But Varda, based in El Segundo, California, is now telling drug companies it has a practical, and repeatable, way to produce novel molecules in microgravity.
“This is the first commercial path to products made in space,” says Michael Reilly, Varda’s chief strategy officer. (Read More)