Why we should be making cancer immunotherapy drugs in space

“Space should be used for the benefit of humans on Earth,” says Dr Katie King, who is CEO of BioOrbit, a startup working to manufacture cancer drugs in space. The concept might seem out-of-this-world, but it could change the way that cancer antibody treatments are delivered to patients.

Antibody treatments are a type of cancer immunotherapy, which means they help the patient’s immune system to fight cancer. In this case, antibodies, large protein molecules, attach to cancer cells so the immune system can attack them.

These treatments are usually administered via intravenous (IV) drip, into the vein, so people have to go in to hospital to receive treatment. If the treatments could instead be delivered subcutaneously – into the fatty tissue under the skin – it would allow people to self-inject their treatments, similar to an insulin pen for diabetes. This way, patients could potentially stay at home, in a more comfortable and familiar environment.

However, it’s not possible to deliver the same volumes of drug that can be delivered by IV drip by subcutaneous injection (for one thing, it would be painful). So, to deliver the same dose, a higher concentration of the antibody protein is needed. The problem is, at high concentrations the antibodies are too viscous to inject – imagine pushing honey though a needle. One way to reach high enough concentrations at low viscosity is to form solid crystals out of the protein, in a process called protein crystallisation.

But there’s a catch: on Earth, protein crystallisation is known to be extremely challenging. It is governed by tiny forces, and under Earth’s gravity, these can cause the crystals to vary in size, making for lower quality crystals. Under microgravity in space, these forces drop, resulting in more uniformly sized crystals which are higher quality.

It might seem futuristic, but astronauts have been aboard the International Space Station since the 1980s, to analyse proteins that cause disease and help them to develop new drugs. However, BioOrbit’s work isn’t just exploratory. The company aims to set up a pharmaceutical factory. As Katie puts it, “we need to start thinking about [manufacturing in] space as almost like manufacturing something in a different country. It’s just a different environment and location.”

Initially at a small scale, BioOrbit will first develop the hardware to crystallise the drug protein on board spacecraft. There are sizeable engineering challenges to solve, including how to mix chemical solutions in space and harvest the crystals. “And this all has to be automated as there are no humans there,” Katie adds. To cap it all off, yet another problem to solve is discovering how to harvest the crystals and transport them safely back to Earth.

BioOrbit’s first in-orbit demonstration will be in 2025, where its setup will be tested on the International Space Station. With a better idea of how the system functions in space, the team will then apply those learnings to develop the next-generation system, which will launch in 2026. All of this has been made possible by commercial space launch providers such as SpaceX, who have changed the game in terms of cost of launch.

When Katie finished her PhD in nanomedicine, she wanted a job in the space sector, specifically using the benefits of microgravity to enhance medical research. At the time, no jobs of this kind existed. So, she and a team she met at the International Space University founded BioOrbit to create their own jobs. “The impact that space could have on driving innovation to benefit humanity is huge,” says Katie. “The health and space sector is growing, and the next generation of forward-thinking engineers and scientists are needed.”  

This could create entirely new careers, such as microgravity biologist or microgravity pharma production scientist. Companies such as BioOrbit are creating a new industry, shaping the future applications of space tech. It's exciting to think your future job, might not exist yet…