[Edaily Reporter Hong Ju-yeon ] Global Big Pharma companies are accelerating their efforts in the space medicine market, which is expected to grow to $1.6 billion (approximately 2.46 trillion won) by 2030.

Starting with Merck (MSD) of the U.S., which conducted a Keytruda protein crystallization experiment on the ISS in 2017, major pharmaceutical companies such as Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, and Novartis have successively entered the field of space research. With SpaceX (X) recently listing on the Nasdaq with a valuation of $1.75 trillion (approximately 2,695.9 trillion won), capital is flooding into the private space industry as a whole. Consequently, some observers suggest that the pharmaceutical and biotech industries’ foray into space is reaching a new inflection point.

Why Big Pharma Has No Choice but to Go to Space

Drug development has fundamentally been based on the presence of gravity. On Earth, gravity causes cells to settle toward the ground, and convection and sedimentation occur during the formation of protein crystals. It is also difficult to completely eliminate structural bias in tissue models caused by the direction of gravity. Analysis of the target protein’s three-dimensional structure is considered key to structure-based drug design. However, the terrestrial environment has been cited as a limitation because it induces convection that disrupts crystal growth and causes uneven growth due to gravity.

The microgravity environment of space mitigates these physical limitations. As the environment around the crystal stabilizes, a uniform supply of nutrients becomes possible, and the elimination of sedimentation promotes single-nucleation events. As a result, the problems of crystal defects and size inhomogeneity—which commonly occur on Earth—are reduced. Crystal sizes become more uniform, and the quality of diffraction data improves.

Better structural information directly leads to more accurate new drug development. Securing precise structural information reduces the need for iterative experiments during lead compound identification and optimization, thereby increasing development efficiency. This is also the reason why global Big Pharma companies have been actively seeking to leverage these characteristics since 2016, when the International Space Station (ISS) was opened to the private sector.

Merck Paves the Way for

Space Medicine

… Big Pharma Follows Suit

U.S.-based Merck (MSD) is credited with pioneering space-based drug development. In 2017, Merck sent pembrolizumab—the active ingredient in its blockbuster immuno-oncology drug Keytruda—to the ISS to conduct research on protein crystal optimization. As a result, Merck confirmed that more uniform, low-viscosity crystals form in a microgravity environment. The study was published in the international academic journal *Nature* in 2019.

Based on these findings, Merck continued experiments on Earth to produce Keytruda in the form of uniformly small particles. These efforts led to the development of a subcutaneous (SC) formulation of Keytruda. Through this, Merck secured the foundational technology to shift treatment—which had previously centered on intravenous (IV) administration—to a more convenient injection method. Consequently, it has been suggested that these space experiments could lead to improved access to treatment, reduced administration costs, and even the potential to extend market exclusivity beyond the patent expiration date.

Following Merck’s success, numerous global pharmaceutical companies—including Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, Novartis, Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), and Amgen—are conducting research and development (R&D) on the ISS, focusing on protein crystallization, disease modeling, and improvements to new drug delivery systems.

Eli Lilly has partnered with aerospace manufacturer Redwire to utilize the “Phil-Box” pharmaceutical manufacturing platform and has been conducting space-based research since 2022 to develop treatments for diabetes, pain, and cardiovascular diseases. The biotech industry is paying close attention to this initiative, as Eli Lilly—a global leader in the obesity and diabetes sectors—is using space research to validate the potential for new drug discovery and formulation innovation.

Since 2019, AstraZeneca has been analyzing the behavior of nanoparticles and drug delivery systems in a microgravity environment to explore the potential for developing cancer vaccines and drug delivery platforms for precision medicine. This is regarded as an early example of research into next-generation vaccine platforms utilizing the space environment. From 2019 to 2022, BMS conducted research on protein crystal growth for biological products, such as antibody drugs, on the ISS, with the aim of developing high-concentration formulations and optimizing production processes.

Startups Join the Race for Space-Based New Drug Development Space-based new drug

development, which was once dominated by Big Pharma, is gradually expanding to include specialized startups. U.S.-based Vardas Space Industries succeeded in manufacturing a new crystalline form of the HIV treatment ritonavir in 2023 by launching its own capsule into low Earth orbit—rather than using the ISS—to crystallize the drug. This is considered the world’s first commercial demonstration of space-based pharmaceutical manufacturing, from production in space to the recovery of the capsule.

The scope of research is also expanding beyond protein crystallization. Microphysiological systems (MPS), which replicate organ and tissue physiology in vitro, are considered a field with the potential to enhance the precision of drug toxicity and efficacy assessments by reducing the effects of sedimentation, buoyancy, and convection in microgravity environments. The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the ISS National Lab have been operating multi-organ MPS on the ISS through the “Tissue Chips in Space” program.

Since last year, research has expanded to the 2.0 program, which utilizes an automated, multi-organ interconnected system. Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting and stem cell research are also cited as fields suitable for the space environment. In microgravity, cells and biomaterials can be uniformly dispersed, raising the possibility of creating soft tissue structures—which might collapse on Earth due to gravity—without the need for a scaffold.

Last August, the South Korean space biotechnology company Space Rintec launched its self-developed space medicine research module to the ISS and completed protein crystallization experiments. The results were retrieved to Earth in February of this year, marking South Korea’s first successful acquisition of microgravity-crystallized proteins from the ISS.

In November of last year, the company launched South Korea’s first space biotech-dedicated CubeSat aboard the fourth Nuri rocket launch, beginning automated crystallization experiments on pembrolizumab—the active ingredient in the immunotherapy drug Keytruda. This is considered the world’s first instance of protein drug crystallization conducted on a CubeSat platform. Global big pharma’s space research, which had been centered on the ISS, is evolving toward a satellite-based space contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) model.
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$1.6 billion market by 2030… A race for growth expected as launch costs decline

According to the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Planning and Evaluation, the space medicine market is expected to grow from $770 million (approximately 1.2 trillion won) in 2023 at an average annual rate of 11%, reaching $1.6 billion (approximately 2.3 trillion won) by 2030. In particular, experts are paying close attention to space CDMO.

This is because, whereas past research on protein crystallization in space was aimed solely at determining structures, the focus has recently shifted to the formulation and manufacturing of commercially valuable pharmaceuticals. There are expectations that moving beyond the research stage to an actual mass production system could lead to innovations that simultaneously reduce both the cost and time required for new drug development.

A bioindustry official stated, “As recently as the 2010s, sending cargo into space cost over 5 million won per kilogram. However, thanks to SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9 launch vehicle, the cost has now dropped to around 2 million won per kilogram,” adding, “Once the super-heavy-lift Starship is commercialized, this cost is expected to fall further to less than 1.5 million won per kilogram.”

He continued, “This structure has become possible as private companies have begun participating in the space industry in earnest,” adding, “As launch costs decrease, space will expand beyond a space for verification to become a space for production.”