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 strategy
The business case for in-space manufacturing
The significance of the W-1 mission
Adapting to the regulatory environment
Microgravity formulation optimization

And much more…

This episode is brought to you by the Italian Trade Agency (ITA).

• Chapters •

00:00 Intro & ITA Ad

01:21 Varda’s origin

05:40 What are you building?

08:17 What does space have to offer for manufacturing?

12:00 The business case for space manufacturing

18:02 What drugs have been improved in space?

19:13 What happened to ZBLAN?

20:54 R&D for manufacturing in space

22:34 The W-1 mission

29:05 Customer traction

30:38 Where does Varda's business risk lie?

38:22 Competitive landscape

39:49 Potential partnerships

42:48 Regulatory learnings

45:30 The Series B

46:57 Use cases beyond pharma

48:19 Space stations

55:35 Other companies Will is excited about

57:22 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.pdf

Will’s socials — https://twitter.com/WillBruey

Delian’s socials — https://twitter.com/zebulgar

Mo's socials — https://twitter.com/itsmoislam

Payload’s socials — https://twitter.com/payloadspace / https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspace

Pathfinder 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 Eastern

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

Valley of Depth