Ginkgo Bioworks acquires certain StrideBio assets

Ginkgo Bioworks announced the acquisition of StrideBio’s adeno-associated virus capsid discovery and engineering platform assets with a secondary close scheduled upon the transfer of certain additional in-license agreements to Ginkgo. Ginkgo will incorporate these capabilities and IP into its end-to-end AAV gene therapy development platform, allowing Ginkgo’s customers to leverage new tools to effectively target many different tissue types, and potentially to improve the safety profile of their future gene therapies. Ginkgo is also receiving StrideBio’s existing library of capsids, which includes advanced candidates extensively tested in large animal models, and which are now available for licensing and broader partnership. Additionally, Ginkgo receives the IP and data for StrideBio’s lead preclinical asset for Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy, a rare genetic heart disease, which Ginkgo plans to sell or outlicense to a commercial partner. The acquisition is focused on the enabling platform IP of StrideBio and does not include any real estate. One employee of StrideBio will transfer to Ginkgo as part of the transaction, joining Ginkgo’s mammalian engineering team.