The U.S. Department of Defense awarded a $41 million contract to a Singapore-based pharmaceutical company to develop ketamine wafers for the military.
Rumors that the U.S. Department of Defense gave a high-value contract to a foreign pharmaceutical company to produce “ketamine wafers” for the military circulated in October.
People on social media alleged the product was being developed by Singapore-based iX Biopharma and was called Wafermine, described as a “small ketamine wafer that dissolves under the tongue and delivers the drug through the mucous membrane without injection.”
The claim gained enough popularity that Snopes readers reached out to us via email and asked us to investigate.
The claim was true, according to multiple documents from iX Biopharma. Neither the company nor the Pentagon has responded to Snopes’ request for comment, but we will update this article if we hear back.
On Feb. 12, the company issued a news release and announcement from the board of directors about the contract with the Department of Defense. “The U.S. government will provide $40,954,914 in funding to support the development of Wafermine,” the announcement read.
IX Biopharma described Wafermine as the “world’s first patented sublingual racemic ketamine wafer being developed for acute moderate to severe pain” which can be administered without an injection. The news of the announcement was added to the company’s newsroom website on Feb. 12.
The announcement added that the “contract was awarded to the Company under a sole-source procurement process, meaning the U.S. government determined that the Company was uniquely capable of delivering the required product within the required timelines.”
The contract was celebrated in the company’s 2026 annual report, released in September, which called the DOD’s investment its “defining event of the year” and said it “anchored” the company’s entry into the U.S. healthcare market.
The report clarified that the development of Wafermine is intended for the U.S. military “to deploy on the battlefield and include in its standard issue medical sets, kits and outfits.”
A 2019 study showed that as the use of ketamine in U.S. combat operations increased from 2010-19, use of opiates decreased.
Deployment of a new product like Wafermine would usually be subject to full approval by the Food and Drug Administration before release, but on Sept. 3, the Department of Health and Human Services made an Emergency Use Authorization declaration, available to read on the Federal Register.
The declaration cited a determination made by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in July which declared a current or “significant potential” of a military emergency.
The HHS declaration read, in part:
On July 15, 2026 the Secretary of War determined, pursuant to sec. 564(b)(1)(B) of the FD&C Act, that there is a military emergency, or a significant potential for a military emergency, involving a heightened risk to U.S. military forces of an attack with a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear agent or agents; or an attack by an agent or agents that may cause, or are otherwise associated with, an imminently life-threatening and specific risk to U.S. military forces (including agents of military combat such as firearms, projectiles, and explosive devices). Injuries arising from these attacks may cause U.S. military forces to experience moderate to severe acute pain and place them at risk of developing life-threatening hemodynamic instability, including shock or respiratory distress.
In sum, an EUA would allow Wafermine to be expedited for use on the battlefield despite not yet having full approval from the FDA.
IX Biopharma announced the move toward an EUA in September, writing that “circumstances exist for the FDA to consider Wafermine for EUA. Before the Declaration, supply of Wafermine to US military personnel would have required full FDA approval. With the statutory precondition under section 564 now satisfied, a regulatory route exists, subject to the FDA granting an EUA.”
The company said it planned on filing its EUA before the end of the year.
In October, Politico reported that iX Biopharma’s Nevada-based manufacturing partner, Orion Specialty Labs, was not yet licensed by the state pharmacy board to operate.
IX Biopharma’s annual report stated Orion had “ordered specialised manufacturing equipment” and that it “relocated our manufacturing equipment from Australia to Orion’s facility to accelerate the production readiness.”
