Drugs in Space, with Will Bruey & Delian Asparouhov (Varda Space)

Right on the heels of their $90M funding round, this week’s Pathfinder spotlights Varda and its cofounders, Will Bruey (CEO) and Delian Asparouhov (President). The LA-based startup harnesses microgravity for pharmaceutical development and manufacturing. In its latest mission, the company successfully processed ritonavir, a crucial antiviral drug utilized in HIV/AIDS treatment.In addition to Varda’s origin story and the Series B fundraise, Mo, Will, and Delian discuss:Varda’s commercialization strategyThe business case for in-space manufacturingThe significance of the W-1 missionAdapting to the regulatory environmentMicrogravity formulation optimizationAnd much more…This episode is brought to you by the Italian Trade Agency (ITA). • Chapters •00:00 Intro & ITA Ad01:21 Varda’s origin05:40 What are you building?08:17 What does space have to offer for manufacturing?12:00 The business case for space manufacturing18:02 What drugs have been improved in space?19:13 What happened to ZBLAN?20:54 R&D for manufacturing in space22:34 The W-1 mission29:05 Customer traction30:38 Where does Varda's business risk lie?38:22 Competitive landscape39:49 Potential partnerships42:48 Regulatory learnings45:30 The Series B46:57 Use cases beyond pharma48:19 Space stations55:35 Other companies Will is excited about57:22 Where would Delian invest his last space investment? • Show notes •Varda’s website — https://www.varda.com/The Return of Ritonavir Paper: https://www.varda.com/papers/1711063046-return-of-the-ritonavir-a-study-on-the-stability-of-pharmaceuticals-processed-in-orbit-and-returned-to-earth.pdfWill’s socials — https://twitter.com/WillBrueyDelian’s socials — https://twitter.com/zebulgarMo's socials — https://twitter.com/itsmoislamPayload’s socials — https://twitter.com/payloadspace / https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspacePathfinder archive — Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@payloadspace Pathfinder archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/episodes • About us •Pathfinder is brought to you by Payload, a modern space media brand built from the ground up for a new age of space exploration and commercialization. We deliver need-to-know news and insights daily to 19,000+ commercial, civil, and military space leaders. Payload is read by decision-makers at every leading new space company, along with c-suite leaders at all of the aerospace & defense primes. We’re also read on Capitol Hill, in the Pentagon, and at space agencies around the world.Payload began as a weekly email sent to a few friends and coworkers. Today, we’re a team distributed across four time zones and two continents, publishing five media properties across multiple platforms:1) Payload, our flagship daily newsletter, sends M-F @ 9am Eastern2) Pathfinder publishes weekly on Tuesday mornings (pod.payloadspace.com)3) Polaris, our weekly policy briefing, publishes weekly on Tuesdays4) Payload Research, our weekly research and analysis piece,  comes out on WednesdaysYou can sign up for all of our publications here: https://payloadspace.com/subscribe/