BioOrbit raises GBP £9.8 million for drugmaking in space

BioOrbit has raised £9.8 million in seed funding for in-space pharmaceutical manufacturing, which it describes as the sector’s largest seed round to date.

The London-founded company will use the funding to scale production of biological drug crystals in microgravity and move those programmes into commercial work with drugmakers. It says the approach could help convert some intravenous medicines into self-injectable treatments for home use.

The round was co-led by LocalGlobe and Breega, with backing from Auxxo, Seedcamp, Type One, 7 percent and angel investors. BioOrbit was founded by Dr Katie King and Dr Leonor Teles and is focused on using low-Earth orbit as a manufacturing environment for pharmaceutical products.

Manufacturing model

Much of its pitch centres on treatment delivery economics. According to BioOrbit, 70% of the world’s highest-grossing drugs are still administered intravenously in clinical settings, and reformulating some of them for subcutaneous use could shift more care away from hospitals.

Its manufacturing system, BOX, is a compact autonomous unit designed to carry out crystallisation in microgravity. The hardware is intended to move the process from experimental work to larger-scale production, with the resulting crystals returned to Earth for use in drug formulations.

The company is focused on antibody therapies, which can be difficult to adapt for self-administration because high-concentration formulations are often too viscous for injection outside a clinic. BioOrbit says its microgravity crystallisation process produces highly ordered crystalline forms of protein-based drugs, creating formulations not achievable on Earth.

Clinical impact

That is relevant in areas such as cancer treatment, where therapies often require regular hospital visits for infusions. BioOrbit says a shift to home use could cut drug-related hospital expenses by as much as 90%, since treatment would no longer need to be administered in a clinical setting.

The funding will also support an expansion of BioOrbit’s leadership team as it moves from research into commercial execution. The company has appointed Dr Molly Mulligan as President of BioOrbit Inc and Dr Ken Savin as Chief Science Officer.

Dr Mulligan has worked at the intersection of pharmaceuticals and space for more than a decade and was involved in the first pharmaceutical royalty agreement conducted in orbit. Dr Savin brings experience from Eli Lilly and later roles in International Space Station research and commercialisation at CASIS and Redwire.

BioOrbit is also working with UK bodies including the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the Regulatory Innovation Office and the Civil Aviation Authority on regulatory questions around pharmaceutical production in space.

Investor view

The company says it has drawn interest from the NHS and the UK Space Agency and has secured letters of interest from large pharmaceutical groups, although it did not identify those companies or disclose terms.

Dr Katie King, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of BioOrbit, said: “This is a huge step-change in drug delivery and economics. Our focus from day one has been scale, moving beyond experimental results to industrial production, where no existing solution has succeeded. We are now enabling the creation of more perfect, highly ordered crystals that unlock drug formulations not achievable on Earth. It is a paradigm shift for cancer therapies and for the pharmaceutical industry at large, as we’re enabling manufacturing at scale in orbit for the first time.”

Julia Hawkins, General Partner at Phoenix Court, said: “BioOrbit turns space into pharmaceutical infrastructure. By using microgravity to create drug formulations that aren’t possible on Earth, they can shift cancer treatment from hospital to home. This is a fundamental rewrite of how medicines are manufactured and delivered. We’re proud to partner with Dr Katie King and Dr Leonor Teles as they build the future of medicine.”

Vallin, Breega, said: “We couldn’t think of a better use of space than to advance cancer treatments. Katie and Leonor are building a world-class team to harness the unique properties up there that are irreproducible on Earth, we’re excited to see them make this a reality.”

Tim Peake said: “BioOrbit is turning bold imagination into real-world progress, pioneering the future by using exciting innovations in crystallisation of protein drugs in space to improve life on Earth. Their record-breaking seed round demonstrates the real market potential of what space-manufacturing can bring.”

Lord David Willetts, Chair of the UK Space Agency, said: “Manufacturing in space is one of the big new opportunities opening up as launch costs fall and robotics advance. BioOrbit is an exciting British start-up well-placed to take advantage of this, with innovations in the efficacy of cancer immunotherapies.”

Lloyd said: “In-orbit manufacturing is a priority capability for this government, and BioOrbit is a compelling example of what UK innovation looks like in practice. By harnessing the unique environment of space to make pharmaceutical-grade materials, BioOrbit is advancing the UK’s position in the global space economy and could transform outcomes for cancer patients. This funding round is a strong signal of international confidence in UK space manufacturing expertise, and I look forward to seeing BioOrbit take this science to the next stage.”