“Space pharmaceuticals” refers to using the unique conditions of space — particularly microgravity — to develop new drugs and produce high-purity medicines that are difficult to manufacture on Earth. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — Following the successful fourth launch of South Korea’s homegrown Nuri rocket, attention is turning to a field that could become a core pillar of the country’s future space industry: space-based pharmaceutical research and manufacturing.
“Space pharmaceuticals” refers to using the unique conditions of space — particularly microgravity — to develop new drugs and produce high-purity medicines that are difficult to manufacture on Earth. In microgravity, proteins can crystallize more uniformly, enabling clearer structural analysis and new drug formulations.
The concept is not new. Merck, the global pharmaceutical giant behind the blockbuster cancer immunotherapy Keytruda, pioneered the field when it sent samples of pembrolizumab — the drug’s active ingredient — to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2017 for crystallization studies.
The company found that microgravity produced more uniform, lower-viscosity crystals. Building on these findings, Merck developed a subcutaneous version of Keytruda, which won regulatory approval in the United States and Europe this year.
Other major pharmaceutical companies have followed. Eli Lilly is collaborating with aerospace manufacturer Redwire, using the firm’s “Pill-Box” platform to advance drug development for chronic diseases in space. AstraZeneca has explored nanoparticle-based drug delivery and material development in microgravity.
Korean companies are now moving quickly to join the race.
SpaceLynkTech, a domestic space-pharma firm, sent its experimental cubesat BEE-1000 aboard the latest Nuri launch to study pembrolizumab crystallization in orbit.
In September, the company also deployed its independently developed research module, BEE-PC1, to the ISS, completing an automated protein-crystallization experiment last month. The module is designed to grow high-purity, highly uniform crystals in microgravity through a fully automated process.
Launch vehicle developer Innospace has signed an agreement with SpaceLynkTech and Intergravity Technologies to collaborate on space-based drug development. Korean drugmaker Boryung is also partnering with U.S. space company Axiom Space to pursue new treatments in cancer, aging-related diseases, and psychiatric disorders.
As the industry expands, experts say the role of clinical pharmacists is likely to grow.
A recent study by researchers at Gyeongsang National University, published in the Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy, noted that space environments expose medicines to unique risks — including cosmic radiation, microgravity, and extreme temperature changes — that could affect drug stability and efficacy.
Drug safety evaluation tailored to space conditions, optimized dosing strategies, monitoring of drug interactions, and management of side effects will become essential tasks, the researchers said. These responsibilities, they added, represent a specialized field distinct from the traditional role of space physicians.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
