Forging path for Pharmaceutical industry.

“Our world is built on biology and once we begin to understand it, it then becomes a technology” - Ryan Bethencourt

Scientific research in space has thrived successfully over the past decade and we are all aware of how far manufacturing space technologies are pushing the innovation frontier. Due to its near-vacuum condition, microgravity, and increased levels of radiation, space provides a distinctive research and manufacturing environment to a wide variety of organizations. To demonstrate this,?several businesses are allowing space-based research that could lead to advancements in a variety of fields including Materials Science, Chemistry, Food Technology,?Life Sciences, and?Pharmaceuticals.

Let's start with the industry which holds great potential to utilise the Space environment: the pharmaceutical sector. Pharmaceutical research challenges the boundaries of drug discovery and innovation when it enters microgravity. Only recently has the pharmaceutical and biotech sector started getting in on the action, pursuing new ways to study drugs and other medical treatments. These qualities offer fresh insights?into space?advancements. Now that space is accessible for commercialization, it is playing a significant role in advancing space-based pharmaceutical research.

Scientists and researchers from biopharma companies utilize?the free-fall environment as a catalyst to develop new technologies for manufacturing and testing pharmaceuticals beyond our planet. It is well known that every single cell and every single biological activity changes after humans travel into space. This could really alter the way we process medicines. Biopharma companies carry out conventional pharmacokinetic investigations in low-Earth orbit as an essential preliminary step to understanding how drugs work in space. Additionally, they do drug research on accelerated models of osteoporosis, muscular atrophy, protein crystallization, vaccine development, colloidal formulations, and other areas of research. Such endeavors are mostly focused on developing or improving pharmaceuticals for?humans on Earth, while they may one day help improve astronaut health and?equip humanity for longer ventures into space.

When businesses invest in space exploration, surprising new technologies emerge on Earth. Interestingly, the development of thermometers began with space exploration. Other medical advancements include cochlear implants, prosthetic limbs, infrared ears, and LASIK surgery. The same holds true for the drug development and production sectors, as aerospace medical research has unquestionably led to unexpected discoveries.

The International Space Station (ISS) is an excellent place to begin pharmaceutical research, according to a 2017 study on drug consumption on the ISS. Astronauts used to take common medications during space missions. Analgesics, decongestants, and sleep aids were the most popular medications taken by each crew member on average four times a week.

Currently, the medical kits brought aboard the ISS include more than 190 different, regularly used medications. However, microgravity’s high radiation as well as dry, and low humid environment, shorten the drugs' shelf life. A team at Tufts University in Massachusetts is investigating, a thin layer of silk proteins applied to medicines that could act as a protective shield from exposure to such environmental extremes. Trials are ongoing and further results help combat drug shelf life degradation and the sustainability of its bio-based covering. Thus, for extended trips in space, which may last months at a time while challenging tests and experiments are performed in the microgravity environment, having the appropriate medications onboard is crucial.

As a result, increasing pharmaceutical research in space may help to address some of the biggest health issues on Earth as well, such as curing diabetes and cancer. Pharmaceutical giants like Merck, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, and Sanofi, as well as dozens of smaller companies, have all sent experiments to the ISS to explore the benefits?of microgravity. Of about 150 life science research projects in ISS?supported by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) in the 2019–2020 fiscal year are committed to pharmaceutical research.

The pharmaceutical industry spends about $280 billion annually on R&D and $80 billion on work with contract research organizations (CROs), these are the businesses that specialize in conducting clinical trials. Space companies may eventually capture some of this funding if they can increase the returns from innovation, and improve the success rates of developing space technologies.

To enhance the global space pharmaceutical industry, About 25% of the industry is focused on medical devices to monitor and maintain astronauts' health or bioengineering solutions for astronauts to combat harmful age-related degenerative disorders such as eye and bone implants. Another 5% is devoted specifically to extending human life in space. A brand-new venture capital fund named SP8CEVC has been created in specifically to focus only on the relationship between space technology and human longevity. On the ISS, around 35% of all private research is being done on drug-delivery technologies to fight cancer. Additionally, the ISS receives equipment for research from more than 35% of space-related companies.

Similar to this, many biopharma companies and new start-ups are equally focused on microgravity research for neurodegenerative?disorders?therapy,?particularly Alzheimer's, the development of vaccines, organ printing (3D bioprinting), drug discovery and drug development using the protein crystallization?technique, and regenerative medicine research for the restoration of muscles and bones using human-cell culture.

The future of pharmaceuticals is already being influenced by microgravity research. Outstanding ground-breaking innovations by innovators in this field will be significantly increased, and applications will expand across the pharmaceutical sector. Now traditional firms and space companies must concentrate on developing close, mutually beneficial collaborations if they are to thrive in future space endeavors. To conclude, as NASA astronaut Serena Au?ón-Chancellor once said - "People think science we do on the space station only relates to space exploration but they don't realize how much it matters to the medical care of everyday living here on Earth.”

Bringing Healthcare Solutions from Space.