One of the most brutal injustices in modern medicine is that the drugs administered to the sickest patients often cannot be taken home by those who need them.
Instead, these patients visit a hospital every few weeks, and sit for hours attached to an IV drip. They repeat this process, often for the rest of their lives. Anyone who has cared for a sick person (or been seriously ill themselves) will recognise the mental and physical load of constantly travelling when you’re already very unwell.
That’s why today, we’re deeply proud to back BioOrbit in their $13.2m raise, alongside LocalGlobe and Breega, Auxxo, Type One Ventures, 7percent Ventures and angel investor Phil Chambers.
On earth, gravity distorts the crystallisation of protein-based drugs: the crystals sink and clump, making them too viscous to inject at home. In microgravity, they form uniformly. That means a drug that currently requires a four-hour hospital IV can become a self-administered injection, just like insulin.
This news comes alongside a landmark moment for the team. Baby BOX-E – BioOrbit’s smallest orbital manufacturing unit – is launching to the ISS aboard SpaceX SpX-34 in the coming days. Baby BOX-E is the first attempt at microgravity protein crystallisation at manufacturing scale.
Founder Katie King holds a PhD in nanomedicine from Cambridge and interned at NASA on the Curiosity Rover. She co-founded BioOrbit in 2023 after leading a team of 23 people at the International Space University exploring exactly this problem.
The team is bolstered by Ken Savin and Molly K. Mulligan leading US operations. Ken and Molly are industry veterans, having led the chemistry and space teams at Redwire, one of the few other space-based chemistry programs.
Investor Will Bennett celebrated the news: “Katie King and the team have cutting edge science chops combined with true hustle. It’s not every day we meet a team able to bootstrap space launches.”
"It's not every day we meet a team able to bootstrap space launches."Will Bennett ~ Investor, Seedcamp
Founder Katie King commented: “This is a groundbreaking move for us, an ambitious team with strong trust from the investors, and a significant moment for the industry towards a commercial usage of our in-space microgravity crystallisation process.”
This is a groundbreaking move for us, an ambitious team with strong trust from the investors, and a significant moment for the industry towards a commercial usage of our in-space microgravity crystallisation process.Katie King ~ Founder, BioOrbit
“The trust is humbling, and the path ahead of myself, Leonor and my exceptional team, is paved.”
BioOrbit’s path to market is well underway. The team already have the full support of the UK Space Agency, MHRA and Civil Aviation Authority, paving the way for this manufacturing technique to be adopted by mainstream medicine.
What comes next is scale – and, for millions of patients, the chance to be treated at home, rather than in a hospital chair. We’re so proud to be part of their story.