The UK is accelerating the next frontier of medicine: manufacturing drugs in space.
Microgravity, impossible to replicate on Earth, can improve how biologic drugs form, behave, and work in the human body, offering potential breakthroughs for cancer, rare diseases, and other conditions by enhancing the quality, stability, and performance of complex medicines.
To turn these advances into real-world treatments, UK companies developing medicines in orbit will now benefit from a coordinated package of measures announced today, aimed at rapidly expanding in-orbit manufacturing. The initiative provides clearer regulatory guidance and a defined path from research in space to patient access on Earth, supporting the ambitions of the UK Government’s £2 billion Life Sciences Sector Plan.
Led by the UK Space Agency with support from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the Regulatory Innovation Office within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the package includes regulatory guidance, case studies, a regulatory sandbox, and strengthened supply-chain engagement.
“The UK is taking medical breakthroughs from orbit to patient – tackling the practical barriers that have held back commercial in-orbit manufacturing, from regulatory uncertainty to supply chain gaps,” said Space Minister Liz Lloyd.
Lord David Willetts, Chair of the UK Space Agency and Regulatory Innovation Office, added: “In-orbit manufacturing of pharmaceuticals represents a significant opportunity for the UK, combining the growth potential of our space sector with the promise of better treatments for patients. The UK Space Agency is committed to supporting the companies pioneering this work.
"Setting out a clear adoption pathway with well-defined regulatory requirements gives investors and entrepreneurs the confidence they need to bring these innovations to market. The UK is open for business in space-enabled pharmaceuticals, with the ambition and capability to lead globally.”
The government has identified in-orbit servicing, assembly, and manufacturing as a priority capability area for UK leadership, growth, and national security.
Demonstration missions such as Space Forge’s ForgeStar 1 and Astroscale UK’s ELSA‑D have already positioned the UK at the forefront of licensing novel space technologies, proving that in-orbit manufacturing is no longer speculative. Early-stage projects like BioOrbit, which recently received £250,000 for a feasibility study, are exploring scalable systems for crystallising biologic drugs in space, with the goal of enabling at-home cancer treatments.
To maintain momentum, the government is launching new guidance, a Re-entry Regulatory Sandbox, and streamlining licensing for higher-frequency in-orbit operations.
“Space manufacturing unlocks cutting‑edge products that simply can’t be made here on Earth. As the UK space regulator, we play a key role in enabling these groundbreaking innovations, which have the potential to deliver real health benefits and drive economic growth.
"We are confident that in‑space manufacturing can be licensed under the UK’s current rules, as long as companies go through the normal approval steps, ensuring that these ideas and innovations take shape, safely, securely and sustainably,” said Rosemary Whitbread, Head of Space Regulation Policy at the UK Civil Aviation Authority.
Dr Paul Bate, CEO of the UK Space Agency, said: “Our investment in innovative projects is matched by focused work through our Unlocking Space Portfolio to connect space companies with the pharmaceutical sector and public health partners. We want to ensure that promising microgravity research doesn’t stall at the experimental stage but progresses towards treatments that improve people’s lives. This is about turning the UK’s strengths in space and life sciences into a competitive advantage that delivers for patients and for growth.”
The announcement came at Space-Comm Expo at ExCeL London, one of Europe’s biggest space industry events, signalling a bold step toward a future where some of the world’s most advanced medicines may literally be manufactured above the Earth.
