KEY TAKEAWAYS
- BioOrbit raised £9.8 million in seed funding, the world’s largest seed round for in-space manufacturing, co-led by LocalGlobe and Breega.
- Its BOX hardware, roughly the size of a microwave, produces pharmaceutical-grade drug crystals autonomously in low-Earth orbit.
- The technology aims to convert intravenous cancer therapies into subcutaneous, self-injectable treatments administrable at home.
- UK Space Minister Liz Lloyd called in-orbit manufacturing “a priority capability” and described BioOrbit as “a compelling example of world-leading UK innovation.”
A London-founded startup is using the emptiness of space to do something no laboratory on Earth can replicate at scale: manufacture pharmaceutical-grade drug crystals in microgravity, and bring them back to help patients avoid hospital visits altogether.
As the Guardian confirmed, BioOrbit, founded in 2023 by Dr Katie King and Dr Leonor Teles, launched its BOX hardware to low-Earth orbit via a SpaceX mission this week, marking the company’s first industrial-scale deployment of a technology that could change how biological drugs reach patients.
The launch follows BioOrbit’s £9.8 million seed round, placing it among the most significant deep tech seed raises in the UK this year.
How Microgravity Changes Drug Manufacturing
BioOrbit’s approach is built around a basic physical limitation. On Earth, gravity causes protein molecules to aggregate unevenly during crystallisation, producing drug crystals that are too large, viscous, or irregular for subcutaneous injection.
In microgravity, those same proteins form highly ordered, uniform crystals that dramatically reduce viscosity.
As Wired reported on BioOrbit’s founding, Dr King identified this gap during her PhD in nanomedicine, recognising that space offered a manufacturing advantage the pharmaceutical industry had never exploited at scale.
The BOX unit is a compact, autonomous system that operates without human intervention in orbit, turning crystallisation from a one-off experiment into a repeatable industrial process.
Around 70 per cent of the world’s highest-grossing drugs are still administered intravenously in clinical settings. BioOrbit aims to reformulate them into self-injectable therapies, shifting cancer and chronic disease care from hospital infusion units to patients’ homes.
What the Launch Means for UK Space and Pharmaceutical Ambitions
The SpaceX mission represents BioOrbit’s transition from research validation to contracted commercial deployment.
As the Guardian confirmed, the company is targeting the antibody drug market, projected to reach $1 trillion globally, and has already begun securing pharmaceutical partnerships ahead of industrial-scale orbital production.
UK Space Minister Liz Lloyd reportedly said: “In-orbit manufacturing is a priority capability for this government, and BioOrbit is a compelling example of what world-leading UK innovation looks like in practice.”
The £9.8 million round was co-led by LocalGlobe and Breega, with participation from Auxxo, Seedcamp, Type One Ventures, and 7percent Ventures.
BioOrbit is also opening a US East Coast office to pursue North American pharmaceutical partnerships.
This places it alongside London’s Ineffable Intelligence and All3 as part of a cohort of UK deep tech ventures applying frontier science to problems the domestic market has never previously had the tools to solve.
Source: Final frontier for meds? UK startup sends drug-making into space
