United Therapeutics is collaborating with Varda Space Industries to test pharmaceuticals in outer space.May 13, 2026Courtesy of Varda Varda Space Industries, a startup that’s been pitching its ability to perform drug experiments in space, says it has signed up the pharmaceutical company United Therapeutics in what may be remembered as a notable step toward in-orbit manufacturing. The idea of building things in outer space for use on Earth has so far been explored mostly on board the International Space Station, and only in small-scale experiments backed by governments. But Varda, based in El Segundo, California, is now telling drug companies it has a practical, and repeatable, way to produce novel molecules in microgravity. “This is the first commercial path to products made in space,” says Michael Reilly, Varda’s chief strategy officer.
The scientific idea is that chemical mixtures have different properties under weightless conditions. For instance, water will hang together in a wiggly sphere, since without gravity, surface tension is the strongest force present. The plan is to launch versions of United Therapeutics’ drugs into orbit, where they can be allowed to form solid crystals. The hope is that in microgravity, they’ll take on atomic arrangements not seen on Earth, possibly leading to new versions with improved stability or other valuable properties.
