Varda launches W-7 to study cancer-drug crystallisation in orbit

Varda Space Industries has launched its W-7 vehicle into orbit to study how microgravity affects the crystallisation of a new class of cancer medicines known as PROTACs (Proteolysis-Targeting Chimeras), the California company announced on Tuesday (https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/varda-space-industries-launches-w-7-to-study-cancer-drug-crystallization-in-orbit-302914014.html). The flight is the company’s third launch this month and its fourth of 2026.

W-7 rode into orbit on SpaceX’s Bandwagon-5 multi-payload rideshare, launched on a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, alongside SpaceX’s own Starfall reentry capsule (https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1420668-can-cancer-drugs-be-made-in-space-heres-what-the-new-mission-aims-to-find-out). W-7 is about three times smaller than Starfall, and Varda’s W-8 and W-9 vehicles launched earlier this month on the Transporter-18 rideshare, Spaceflight Now reported (https://recentlyheard.com/live-coverage-spacex-to-launch-starfall-reentry-capsule-31-customer-payloads-on-bandwagon-5-rideshare-mission-spaceflight-now/).

PROTACs are designed to co-opt the cell’s own waste-disposal machinery, tagging harmful proteins for complete destruction rather than merely blocking them. But the large, complex molecules dissolve poorly in the body, making them difficult to formulate into medicines.

“We are exploring a new class of cancer drugs that are very innovative, but have problems with dissolving in the body,” said Varda chief strategy officer Michael Reilly. “The premise is that in space we can create unique crystals that have superior dissolution properties, and therefore can be far more effective and perhaps safer as well” (https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1420668-can-cancer-drugs-be-made-in-space-heres-what-the-new-mission-aims-to-find-out).

Without gravity-driven convection and sedimentation, the PROTAC compound can form crystal structures impossible to achieve on Earth; the crystals will return to Earth for solubility analysis. Reilly added that Varda is strategising a clinical initiative involving a United Therapeutics PAH treatment in 2027 (https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1420668-can-cancer-drugs-be-made-in-space-heres-what-the-new-mission-aims-to-find-out).