Pharmaceutical company to use Varda’s capsules to manufacture heart drugs in space
Varda’s fifth capsule after landing on January 29, 2026
The pharmaceutical company United Therapeutics Corporation has purchased space on an unspecified number of future Varda’s recoverable capsules so that it can manufacture pulmonary drugs in space.
Through the collaboration, Varda and United Therapeutics will conduct pharmaceutical processing of small molecule medicines for pulmonary disease aboard Varda’s orbital manufacturing and reentry platform during multiple missions to low Earth orbit.
The companies will utilize microgravity’s influence on the structure and crystallization properties of therapeutic compounds in pursuit of novel formulations that may improve stability, bioavailability, and other delivery characteristics. The first compounds to be analyzed onboard Varda spacecraft will likely be focused on therapies for patients living with life-threatening pulmonary diseases.
Varda has a deal in Australia to land 20 more capsules through 2028. This deal helps fill the payload space on those capsules.
As I have noted repeatedly, there is money to be made manufacturing drugs in weightlessness for later sale back on Earth, a reality that NASA has blocked on ISS for decades. Varda is now grabbing that market, which is also why a lot of investment capital has become available for a whole slew of proposed competing recoverable capsule companies.
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“Varda Space Industries has not publicly named a specific heart drug as its current manufacturing target in space, but its work is focused on crystallizing pharmaceuticals.”
“The company’s most recent high-profile success was crystallizing the HIV drug Ritonavir in orbit, which demonstrated the potential of microgravity to produce drug crystals with superior uniformity and novel polymorphs.”
–>The key word here is “polymorphs.”
“In crystallography, polymorphism is the phenomenon where a compound or element can crystallize into more than one crystal structure. These different solid forms are called polymorphs, and they share the same chemical composition but differ in the arrangement of atoms, molecules, or ions in the crystal lattice. Polymorphs are not chemically different substances; they are the same molecule or element in different solid arrangements, and result in different pharmaceutical effects.”
“Crystal Polymorphism”
Veritasium (April, 2026)
https://youtu.be/ksn5yrsC3Wg
33:24
An interesting tour of VARDA’s facility: https://youtu.be/fhAOD2Sdo2c?si=IaikDSV4fYkP6xaH
Not a publicly traded company.
Thank you. Very worthwhile tour. The interviewer actually asked good questions.