BOSTON, Jan. 8, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA), which is building the
leading platform for cell programming and biosecurity, today
announced the formation of its new Biopharma Advisory Board.
This council of experts from across the biopharmaceutical
industry will provide critical insight into the development of
Ginkgo's core platform service offerings across target discovery,
drug discovery, optimization, and manufacturing. The group, which
will conduct regular meetings at Ginkgo and with its partners,
includes (in alphabetical order):
- Norbert Bischofberger,
PhD, is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Kronos Bio, a
clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing medicines that
target the deregulated transcription that is the hallmark of cancer
and other serious diseases. Prior to Kronos, Dr. Bischofberger
spent 28 years at Gilead, where he presided over the development
and approval of more than 25 medicines for a range of serious
conditions, including the transformation in the treatment of
diseases such as HIV and viral hepatitis. Notably, he is one of the
inventors of Tamiflu, an oral medication on the market for both the
prevention and treatment of influenza A and B. Norbert was part of
the core management team that grew Gilead from less than 50
employees with no revenues to 10,000 employees with $25B in revenue.
- Jeff Legos, PhD, MBA, is currently an Executive Vice
President and Global Head of Oncology and Hematology at Novartis,
where he leads development, registration, approval, and life cycle
management for a clinical pipeline of 35+ assets across a broad
range of cancers and blood disorders. Dr. Legos has a proven track
record of successfully leading large multinational teams across all
functions and stages of R&D in both his current and previous
role as Vice President and Global Medicine Development Leader at
GlaxoSmithKline, which has resulted in more than 30 global
regulatory drug and companion diagnostic approvals.
- John Maraganore, PhD,
served as the founding Chief Executive Officer and a Director of
Alnylam from 2002 to 2021. Under his leadership, Alnylam helped
lead the interventional RNA revolution by launching the first RNAi
therapeutic medicine, ONPATTRO®, in 2018, followed by four more
RNAi therapeutics through mid-2022. Dr. Maraganore was the chair of
the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) from 2017 to 2019
and is an active mentor to leaders across the biotechnology
industry. John is the principal of JMM Innovation, and also serves
as a Venture Partner for Arch Ventures and Atlas Ventures, an
executive partner for RTW Investments, a senior advisor for
Blackstone Life Sciences, and as an advisor for M28.
- Paolo Martini, PhD, is
the Chief Scientific Officer of International Therapeutic Research
Centers and the Founder of Rare Diseases at Moderna, where he
previously worked on messenger RNA therapy for rare and orphan
diseases. He has more than 20 years of experience in drug discovery
working on molecular mechanisms underlying monogenic and multigenic
metabolic and fibrotic disorders as well as hematologic
malignancies.
- Mark McCamish, MD, PhD,
is the President & Chief Executive Officer of IconOVir Bio, a
preclinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the next
generation of oncolytic virus therapy to improve the treatment of
patients with cancer. He was previously the President & Chief
Executive Officer of Forty Seven, which he led from a valuation of
$169M to an acquisition by Gilead for
$4.9B. Previously he has had
extensive experience at multiple companies including Abbott, Amgen,
and Novartis/Sandoz and is a renowned expert in biologic and
biosimilars development and manufacturing.
- Christi Shaw is an
Independent Director on the Boards of Beam Therapeutics, ReAlta
Life Sciences, and Avantor. She previously served as Chief
Executive Officer of Kite Pharma and as Senior Vice President at
Eli Lilly & Company, where she was President of Lilly
Bio-Medicines. Ms. Shaw has also held prominent leadership roles at
Johnson & Johnson and Novartis where she served as US Country
Head and President. Christi co-founded the More Moments More
Memories Foundation which provides financial assistance to help
cancer patients access potentially life saving clinical
trials.
Together, this council represents a wide breadth of technical
experience and deep business expertise that will contribute to the
development of Ginkgo's service offerings in Gene Therapy,
Cell Therapy, RNA, Biologics, Process R&D and more. Over the
past year, Ginkgo announced new R&D services collaborations
with Boehringer Ingelheim, DARPA, Esperovax, Merck, Pfizer,
Prokarium, Sensible, Synplogen, WARF, as well as advancements in
its work with Novo Nordisk, Persephone Biosciences, and Synlogic.
Ginkgo acquires and integrates new technologies to expand its
horizontal platform, with past acquisitions serving to develop
Ginkgo's capabilities in AAV and circular RNA.
"The discovery and development of new medicines is critically
important and incredibly challenging," said Jason Kelly, co-founder and CEO of Ginkgo
Bioworks. "Advanced technologies in high throughput automation,
synthetic biology, and more recently AI, have opened up
possibilities for the development of novel modalities and
exploration of more design space for the discovery and optimization
of new targets and candidate therapies. It's an incredibly exciting
time for the industry as these technologies come together at scale,
and we're thrilled to have this group of luminaries as part of our
inaugural cohort of advisors."
"I'm excited to welcome this incredible deep bench of wisdom and
creativity to the Ginkgo family," said Jennifer Wipf, SVP & Head of Commercial at
Ginkgo Bioworks. "These leaders have shaped the modern vaccines and
therapeutics landscapes by spearheading the discovery, testing,
manufacturing, and deployment of entirely new modalities, and
reinventing how researchers and drugmakers work with more familiar
areas of medicine. I can't wait to see how their mentorship,
insights, and provocations help our growing team reach new
heights."
"We live in a global, interconnected society, and therefore, we
are all susceptible to the spread of novel infectious diseases. Now
more than ever, the speed of drug discovery and development is
important," said Norbert
Bischofberger, Ginkgo Biopharma Advisory Board member.
"Ginkgo's experience in accelerating biological R&D across
modalities and their extensive work in biosecurity and epidemiology
positions the company to make a meaningful impact. I look forward
to supporting the growth of their team and offerings."
"Ginkgo represents a huge opportunity for businesses who want to
take new pharmaceuticals to market. By outsourcing risky R&D to
a partner with unprecedented scale, companies can optimize their
approach to new modalities and targets wherever they are in the
pipeline," said John Maraganore,
Ginkgo Biopharma Advisory Board member. "Our industry is at a
pivotal moment. More and more of biopharma can leverage scale and
AI to turn scientific uncertainty into predictable engineering, so
I'm thrilled to be able to contribute to the energy and movement I
saw firsthand when I spoke onstage with Jen at Ferment."
To learn more about Ginkgo's biopharmaceutical services
offerings, visit
https://www.ginkgobioworks.com/offerings/biopharmaceutical/.
About Ginkgo Bioworks
Ginkgo Bioworks is the leading horizontal platform for cell
programming, providing flexible, end-to-end services that solve
challenges for organizations across diverse markets, from food and
agriculture to pharmaceuticals to industrial and specialty
chemicals. Ginkgo's biosecurity and public health unit, Concentric
by Ginkgo, is building global infrastructure for biosecurity to
empower governments, communities, and public health leaders to
prevent, detect and respond to a wide variety of biological
threats. For more information, visit ginkgobioworks.com and
concentricbyginkgo.com, read our blog, or follow us on social media
channels such as X (formerly known as Twitter) (@Ginkgo and
@ConcentricByGBW), Instagram (@GinkgoBioworks and
@ConcentricByGinkgo), Threads (@GinkgoBioworks) or LinkedIn.
Forward-Looking Statements of Ginkgo Bioworks
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements
within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including
statements regarding the capabilities and potential success of
Ginkgo's cell programming platform and its new Biopharma Advisory
Board. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by
the words "believe," "can," "project," "potential," "expect,"
"anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "strategy," "future,"
"opportunity," "plan," "may," "should," "will," "would," "will be,"
"will continue," "will likely result," and similar expressions.
Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other
statements about future events that are based on current
expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks
and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual future events to
differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this press
release, including but not limited to: (i) volatility in the price
of Ginkgo's securities due to a variety of factors, including
changes in the competitive and highly regulated industries in which
Ginkgo operates and plans to operate, variations in performance
across competitors, and changes in laws and regulations affecting
Ginkgo's business, (ii) the ability to implement business plans,
forecasts, and other expectations, and to identify and realize
additional business opportunities, (iii) the risk of downturns in
demand for products using synthetic biology, (iv) the uncertainty
regarding the demand for passive monitoring programs and
biosecurity services, (v) changes to the biosecurity industry,
including due to advancements in technology, emerging competition
and evolution in industry demands, standards and regulations, (vi)
our ability to realize the expected benefits of merger and
acquisition transactions, (vii) the outcome of any legal
proceedings against Ginkgo, including as a result of recent
acquisitions, (viii) our ability to realize the expected benefits
from and the success of our Foundry platform programs, (ix) our
ability to successfully develop engineered cells, bioprocesses,
data packages or other deliverables, and (x) the product
development or commercialization success of our customers. The
foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully
consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and
uncertainties described in the "Risk Factors" section of Ginkgo's
quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on November
8, 2023 and other documents filed by Ginkgo from time to
time with the SEC. These filings identify and address other
important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events
and results to differ materially from those contained in the
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only
as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put
undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and Ginkgo assumes no
obligation and does not intend to update or revise these
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events, or otherwise. Ginkgo does not give any assurance
that it will achieve its expectations.
GINKGO BIOWORKS INVESTOR
CONTACT:
investors@ginkgobioworks.com
GINKGO BIOWORKS MEDIA
CONTACT:
press@ginkgobioworks.com
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