Congratulations to Varda Space on the successful close of a $187 million Series C funding round! This development represents another important milestone in its effort to make space the “ultimate high ground” for manufacturing vital pharmaceutical ingredients. The funding reflects the growing interest and investment from prominent Silicon Valley players in the potential of space-based drug manufacturing.
The company‘s laboratory, located in El Segundo, California, spans 10,000 square feet and serves as a hub for Varda’s pharmaceutical scientists. These specialists determine which uniquely suited biologics are the best candidates for crystallization in outer space. Since then, Varda has successfully launched and returned three missions. This year, the company hopes to fly four additional missions.
Varda’s other co-founder, Delian Asparouhov, noted that the work being done is pioneering and represents a significant re-think of how drugs can be produced.
“The company can go and do process engineering to understand at what temperatures and what conditions do the biologics crystallize ahead of time, so that when we get up in orbit the bioreactor knows what to do,” – Delian Asparouhov.
This step-by-step development lets Varda foresee the hurdles of space manufacturing and design its operations with that in mind. It’s an ambitious goal that requires deep, intentional collaboration with the leading pharmaceutical innovators. Now, they’re collectively taking on challenges such as creating crystalized ingredients, increasing drug purity, and improving shelf-life stability.
All three of Varda’s missions will be powered by a Rocket Lab-made spacecraft. Aside from bringing these vehicles to life, the company is helping lead the way toward developing in-space manufacturing. In Perdue’s words, Varda created two additional spacecraft this year to ramp up production for its operations. By next year, the company hopes to increase that manufacturing rate to four spacecraft per year.
With the new funding, Varda intends to use its still-to-be-built laboratory facility as an intellectual property-generating IP-generating behemoth. Asparouhov anticipates a much higher pace of patents being filed as the technology transfer lab reaches full operational capacity. This advancement will immensely broaden Varda’s development capabilities. It’ll further entrench the company’s role as a leader in developing and innovating on pharma space’s innovation in space.
Varda’s researchers perform essential, proof-of-concept studies to identify the assets most appropriate for orbital missions. They further set the best possible conditions for qualifying these assets for their performance in space! The company suggests a relatively rapid launch-and-return cadence. This novel approach allows for the reclamation of test material for hypersonic flight analysis, improving its advanced production techniques.