Ginkgo Bioworks and Agenus subsidiary awarded MCDC vaccine contract

Ginkgo Bioworks (DNA) and SaponiQx, a subsidiary of Agenus (AGEN) have been awarded a 5-year contract totaling up to $31M including program options to discover and develop next-generation vaccine adjuvants, by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s – DTRA – Joint Science and Technology Office – JSTO – for the Chemical and Biological Defense – CBD – Program, through the Medical CBRN – Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear – Defense Consortium – MCDC – requirement “Adjuvant Activity to Vaccines Prototype,”. Ginkgo, which is building a platform for cell programming and biosecurity, and SaponiQx, developing an adjuvant development platform, will use a combination of high-throughput empirical and artificial intelligence/machine learning approaches, including Generative Molecular Design, to develop superior novel saponin-based adjuvants. By leveraging Ginkgo’s leading platform for cell programming, the partners also intend to develop more affordable, sustainable, and scalable adjuvant manufacturing processes.