Franklin 1 · protein crystallization

Diabetes

Franklin 1 is built for crystallization and formulation process data. Insulin already has a microgravity crystal history. Modern GLP-1s and many oral diabetes agents still lack high-cadence free-flying process maps. Diabetes medicines are already a ~$75–100B+ global market. WHO: in 2021 diabetes was the direct cause of 1.6 million deaths, plus about 530,000 kidney deaths due to diabetes. CDC: in 2021, 103,294 US deaths listed diabetes as the underlying cause, and 399,401 listed it as underlying or contributing. NCHS: 95,190 US deaths with diabetes as the underlying cause in 2023. Related illness, not a comment on the companies making the drugs. We can still do better on process data.

The payload: sealed dual reservoirs, mixing, thermal control, optical endpoints, prioritized science packets. Protein and peptide crystal quality, suspension uniformity, and oral solid form are the fit.

Pathfinder targeted 2027, partner- and funding-gated.