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Varda raises $250 million to scale orbital drug manufacturing

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Varda Space Industries raised $250 million in a Series D round at a reported $1.6 billion valuation. The round closed in September 2026 and was led by Lux Capital and Natural Capital, with several existing investors also participating. The El Segundo, California-based company says it has raised about $598 million since its 2021 founding. It builds autonomous capsules that manufacture materials in orbit and return them to Earth. Varda’s commercial bet is on pharmaceuticals: microgravity may enable drug ingredients to form crystals with properties that are difficult to achieve on Earth. The company is also flying government and commercial hypersonic-research payloads. Varda has flown six missions with its W-Series capsule; all except the fourth successfully returned from orbit. It planned to launch two capsules together on a SpaceX rideshare mission, carrying hypersonic research payloads. The company’s customer mix remains heavily government-based for now: CEO Will Bruey said...

BioNTech to close three German sites after sale efforts fail

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EQT Foundation backs 11 brain drug-delivery research projects

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Biosimilars emerge as a potential next direct-to-employer drug strategy

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UniQure slides as four-year Huntington’s data show a weaker, statistically uncertain benefit

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PhRMA names Eric Cantor as next chief

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ai3Bio launches with $48M to target disease-driving immune cells

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AstraZeneca invests $2 billion in Summit to advance ivonescimab–ADC combinations

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Novo licenses Hengrui’s early-stage oral obesity candidate in potential $2.6B deal

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U.S. details 0% tariff rules for specialty medicines

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Merck licenses SciBrunch’s preclinical KRAS drug in deal worth up to $2.13B

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Roche drops emugrobart obesity program and returns rights to Chugai

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Mirum’s brelovitug meets Phase 3 primary endpoint in hepatitis delta

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