Redwire: Lilly investigation yields ‘exciting’ results for drug discovery

Redwire (RDW) said in a statement: In November 2023, Redwire and Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) teamed up for the first spaceflight investigation using Redwire’s PIL-BOX, a unique platform that offers pharmaceutical companies and biomedical researchers novel and flexible services to study small-batch crystal growth of proteins. The investigation, named PIL-01, launched to the ISS on SpaceX’s 29th cargo resupply mission for NASA and included experiments focused on developing advanced treatments for chronic diseases. Following successful on-orbit operations and return to Earth for analysis by the Lilly team, this first space mission demonstrated value in continued missions to conduct further microgravity research in the name of speeding discovery & development of potential medicines for patients. Initial findings from the PIL-01 investigation have demonstrated that insulin crystals grown on the ISS using the PIL-BOX FC system are larger and more highly ordered than crystals grown on Earth. Following the success of PIL-01, a second spaceflight investigation with Redwire and Lilly, PIL-02, is in the works. Set to launch onboard SpX-30 to the ISS, the PIL-02 investigation will hopefully add a deeper understanding of crystal growth that can benefit pharmaceutical companies.”