HIV drugs manufactured in space return to Earth
Key takeaways:
- A Varda Space Industries spacecraft landed in the Utah desert after an 8-month mission to manufacture ritonavir in low Earth orbit.
- The company’s second production mission is planned for launch this summer.
Ritonavir crystals grown in low Earth orbit landed in a spacecraft in the Utah desert Wednesday, completing the manufacturing portion of a proof-of-concept manufacturing effort.
Varda Space Industries’ re-entry capsule, designed by Rocket Lab and launched aboard SpaceX’s Transport-8 mission, landed at the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) at Hill Air Force Base roughly 80 miles west of Salt Lake City, the company said.
Once Varda retrieves the capsule, the company said it will ship the spacecraft back to its facilities in Los Angeles for a post-mission analysis.
“The ritonavir vials on board the spacecraft will be shipped to our collaborators Improved Pharma for post-flight characterization,” Varda said in a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Additionally, data collected throughout the entirety of the capsule’s flight — including a portion where we reached hypersonic speeds — will be shared with the Air Force and NASA under a contract Varda has with those agencies,” the company said.
Ritonavir is a protease inhibitor used in drug combinations to boost the activity of other HIV medications, in addition to being one of the two medications in the COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid.
The capsule was originally scheduled to land in July at the UTTR, but was denied a reentry license by both the Air Force and the Federal Aviation Administration in July and again in September based on a safety, risk and impact analysis, the Air Force told Healio at the time.
Manufacturing was completed in late July, but the solar-powered capsule remained in orbit for 6 months as Varda and Rocket Lab worked with the Air Force and FAA to land in Utah.
“W-1 is home,” Rocket Lab posted on X after the capsule touched down. “A phenomenal effort from our space systems team. Bullseye for our first reentry mission. Thank you to the Varda Space team. Let’s do it again for W-2 soon.”
Varda did not reply to requests for comment at press time but said in a statement that the second of four manufacturing missions it has contracted with Rocket Lab is expected to launch this summer.
Varda’s W-1 mission is not the first to conduct pharmaceutical research in space. Such research has been conducted for decades on board the International Space Station.
References:
- Rocket Lab successfully returns spacecraft capsule to Earth, brings back pharmaceuticals made in space. https://www.rocketlabusa.com/updates/rocket-lab-successfully-returns-spacecraft-capsule-to-earth-brings-back-pharmaceuticals-made-in-space/. Published Feb. 21, 2024. Accessed Feb. 22, 2024.
- X (Twitter). Update #6 on Varda’s W-1 mission. https://twitter.com/VardaSpace/status/1760419976790659327/photo/1. Published Feb. 21, 2024. Accessed Feb. 22, 2024.
- X (Twitter). W-1 is home. https://twitter.com/RocketLab/status/1760421087794676070. Published Feb. 21, 2024. Accessed Feb. 22, 2024.