Medicine in Space: Can Low-Gravity Environment Speed Up Drug Development?

Studies show that the International Space Station's low-gravity environment helps hasten the creation and discovery of complex compounds used in pharmaceuticals.

According to scientists (per Eurekalert), doing tests in space enables them to analyze and create medications without gravity, which can produce unexpected findings that advance research on Earth.

The foundation for U.S. businesses to show the distinct commercial value of in-space production, technology progress, and medication discovery has been set by decades of low-gravity research.

More than a dozen inventions have received more than $38 million in startup funding from NASA (per the University of Connecticut), allowing creative businesses to develop their ideas and bolster consumer demand for upcoming industries.

(Photo: NASA)
The Northrop Grumman Cygnus Cargo Spacecraft gears up for rendezvous with the International Space Station.

Drug Experiments Conducted in ISS

Chemical & Engineering News, an independent publication of the American Chemical Society, said that more businesses are expanding their services in low-Earth orbit, which might one day make drug discovery and production in space more widespread and accessible.

Misbehaving proteins causes many illnesses. Thus researchers frequently crystallize proteins to learn more about their intricate structures. This technique can result in bigger and more uniform crystals when carried out in space as opposed to when they are created on Earth. Some cancer medications have been developed with the help of protein crystallization investigations carried out in microgravity.

Additionally, because the effects of space flight on the body are similar to those of aging, researchers have used the special environment to examine anti-aging therapies, including preclinical tests on two currently marketed osteoporosis medications.

Observations showing stem cells can develop more quickly in space may one day be useful in stem cell treatment research.

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History of ISS Experiments

Phys.org said access to the ISS for experiments is currently restricted, and there is an intense rivalry to board experiments. An investigation can take years to plan, and after the data are in, it may be years before scientists reaccess them. The ISS is set to be decommissioned in less than ten years.

Still, as space travel becomes more commercialized, researchers may have additional possibilities to conduct research or produce pharmaceuticals in this environment.

Commercial stations are being built by private businesses to replace the ISS, including SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, and Blue Origin. As a result, there may be more experiments conducted in space that have a significant influence on research on Earth.

Since the beginning of space travel, astronauts have been doing scientific studies in space. Studies in biomedicine that focused on the physiological consequences of human spaceflight, the biological mechanisms behind those effects, and lifestyle strategies to mitigate them were conducted throughout the 1970s onboard the Russian Salyut stations and the U.S. Skylab. After the space labs went down, research was carried out on shuttles, allowing for brief microgravity exposure for days. The introduction of the Shuttle-Mir space station program in the 1990s made it possible to conduct longer-duration research in orbit for tests on the chemistry and pharmacodynamics of pharmaceuticals in zero-gravity conditions. The development of the ISS was made possible by this effort.

Businesses and academic organizations submit applications through space agencies like NASA and the European Space Agency to secure seats for experiments on the International Space Station. The selected experiments are subsequently modified for space by implementation partners, which are seasoned businesses.