On-demand Production of Medicines using Bacteria

Bringing medicines into space comes with a unique set of challenges. For starters, many medicines are susceptible to physical degradation when exposed to extreme temperatures and radiation – common conditions for interplanetary travel. Secondly, the payload, and thus the fuel required, will increase if a large number of pharmaceuticals are carried within the spacecraft. (This will be covered in detail in another blog post…) It seems a wiser approach may be to bring the tools required, microbes, for pharmaceutical production onto the spacecraft.

An article “Bacillus subtilis engineered for aerospace medicine” in the journal, “Frontiers in Space Technologies” tackled this challenge head on when they used Bacillus Subtilis to produce two well-known medicines: Teriparatide and Filgastim. Teriparatide is used to treat osteoporosis makng it useful for astronauts who are all susceptible to a loss of bone density due to the lack of gravity in space. Filgrastim is usually used for cancer patients, whose treatment schedule has led to a reduction in white blood cells. It may also prove useful for astronauts who, due to an increased exposure to radiation in space, may suffer from a reduced immmune response.

The researchers engineered the bacteria to secrete the peptide medicines out of their cells. This was important as it means complicated extraction apparatus won’t be needed to separate the bacteria from the pharmaceuticals. The researches succesfully showed that these bacteria could produce therapeutically significant doses within 24 hours.

What does this mean for the future of pharmaceuticals in space? This research demonstrates the possibility of pharmaceuticals being made in space when needed. However, there are a few key considerations for this technology to be properly implemented. For instance, more research must be done on how to increase the yield. For example, bacteria could be modified using CRISPR gene editing technology to upregulate genes which focus on production of a given medicine and research must be done on more drugs to show if Bacilus Subtilis is a suitable candidate for their production.

Overall, despite these challenges – on-demand pharmaceutical production may be a key part of supplying medicines to space travellers in the future.

Reference:
Vallota-Eastman, A., Bui, C., Williams, P. M., Valentine, D. L., Loftus, D. & Rothschild, L. 2023. Bacillus subtilis engineered for aerospace medicine: a platform for on-demand production of pharmaceutical peptides. Frontiers in Space Technologies, 4.