Redwire teams with Lilly on 1st spaceflight mission for pharma drug development

Redwire Corporation (RDW) announced the first spaceflight mission for its cutting-edge in-space pharmaceutical manufacturing platform, PIL-BOX, designed to offer pharmaceutical companies and researchers novel and flexible services to grow small-batch crystals of protein-based pharmaceuticals and other key pharmaceutically relevant molecules for research. The new platform will launch onboard SpaceX’s 29th cargo resupply services mission, SpaceX-29, for NASA to the International Space Station, ISS. On the inaugural PIL-BOX-01 mission, Eli Lilly (LLY) partnering with Redwire to conduct three critical experiments focused on developing advanced treatments for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and pain. “The microgravity environment is a game changer for pharmaceutical drug development, which has a greater than $240B annual spend in 2022, and has tremendous potential to save and improve life on Earth,” said Redwire Executive Vice President John Vellinger. PIL-BOX technology builds from Redwire’s multi-decade space crystallization flight heritage, which dates back to the space shuttle era through its Advanced Space Experiment Processor. PIL-BOX is being developed in partnership with NASA, through its In Space Production Applications flight demonstrations program, which is focused on stimulating demand in low-Earth orbit.On SpaceX-29, Redwire is also launching materials for an investigation that will bioprint cardiac tissue on orbit using Redwire’s BioFabrication Facility, BFF. This type of technology could be used to develop heart patches that can be applied to the outside of damaged hearts and advances our ability to print complex, thick tissues that cannot be produced on Earth. In September, Redwire announced that it had successfully 3D bioprinted the first human knee meniscus on orbit using BFF. The print returned to Earth for further study and analysis.