Drug Companies Explore Making Most Lucrative Drugs in Space

Startup LambdaVision Inc. has big plans to develop the world’s first protein-based artificial retina for patients with retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic cause of blindness. Manufacturing the retina involves depositing 200 paper-thin layers of a light-sensitive protein in a polymer mesh. The protein layers must be perfectly even for the retina to work properly, a process that’s hard to get right on Earth.

So starting in late 2018, the company turned to the International Space Station in the hopes that the microgravity there could help. In the eight experiments it has sent to the Space Station so far, it’s improved the ...