BOSTON, July 18,
2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA), the
leading horizontal platform for cell programming, today announced
the launch of a new cell programming project as part of a broader
collaboration with Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd (TSE:4005), one
of Japan's leading chemical
companies. Through this partnership, Sumitomo Chemical will
leverage Ginkgo's extensive codebase and expertise in organism
engineering to produce molecules in a sustainable fashion that are
used in products across a broad range of industries. The target
molecule of this latest project is planned to be used in the
personal care and cosmetic industries and is envisioned to augment
or replace one that is otherwise currently gathered from animal
sources.
By engineering a strain that will produce the targeted
ingredient through fermentation, Ginkgo and Sumitomo Chemical aim
to create products that will bring significant benefits to
consumers by supplying an ingredient that is animal-free and more
sustainable. This is a new project in addition to the companies'
existing collaboration, which began in 2021 and focuses on
bio-based production of selected molecules for the broad Sumitomo
Chemical portfolio which includes offerings from personal care and
cosmetics to agriculture and pharma, and from chemicals to
industrial products and more.
"The cosmetics industry is demanding more sustainable and
cost-competitive beauty and personal care products, as are many
others we serve, and we see tremendous potential in synthetic
biology's ability to make this possible at a commercial scale,"
said Hiroshi Ueda, Executive Vice
President of Sumitomo Chemical. "We're encouraged by the progress
of our ongoing first project with Ginkgo, and we believe it's clear
from how well our teams collaborate that we will also be able to
find success within additional product areas as well. Through this
project, we aim to build our own capability on fermentation
production with, active involvement of our new organization SynBio
Hub."
"Not only is this project a natural fit for Ginkgo's platform,
but it provides the perfect opportunity to leverage and showcase
our growing codebase," said Patrick
Boyle, Head of Codebase for Ginkgo. "Ginkgo has prior
experience developing a precursor molecule to the one Sumitomo
Chemical is currently targeting. The data and experience Ginkgo has
on this precursor molecule has significantly accelerated our
current program with Sumitomo Chemical, possibly saving Sumitomo
Chemical multiple years off its development timeline."
About Ginkgo Bioworks
Ginkgo is building a platform to enable customers to program
cells as easily as we can program computers. The company's platform
is enabling biotechnology applications across diverse markets, from
food and agriculture to industrial chemicals to pharmaceuticals.
Ginkgo has also actively supported a number of COVID-19 response
efforts, including K-12 pooled testing, vaccine manufacturing
optimization and therapeutics discovery. For more information,
visit www.ginkgobioworks.com.
About Sumitomo Chemical Company, Limited
Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan,
Sumitomo Chemical is one of Japan's leading chemical companies, offering a
diverse range of products globally in the fields of essential
chemicals & plastics, energy & functional materials,
IT-related chemicals, health & crop sciences, and
pharmaceuticals. The company's consolidated net sales for fiscal
year 2021 were JPY 2.7 trillion and
number of employees is about 34,703 as of March 31, 2022. For additional information, visit
the company's website at
https://www.sumitomo-chem.co.jp/english/.
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 potential success of the partnership and
Ginkgo's cell programming platform. 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) the effect of Ginkgo's business combination with
Soaring Eagle Acquisition Corp. ("Soaring Eagle") on Ginkgo's
business relationships, performance, and business generally, (ii)
risks that the business combination disrupts current plans of
Ginkgo and potential difficulties in Ginkgo's employee retention,
(iii) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted
against Ginkgo related to its business combination with Soaring
Eagle, (iv) volatility in the price of Ginkgo's securities now that
it is a public company 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, changes in laws and regulations affecting
Ginkgo's business and changes in the combined capital structure,
(v) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other
expectations after the completion of the business combination, and
identify and realize additional opportunities, (vi) the risk of
downturns in demand for products using synthetic biology, (vii) the
unpredictability of the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and the
demand for COVID-19 testing and the commercial viability of our
COVID-19 testing business, and (viii) changes to the biosecurity
industry, including due to advancements in technology, emerging
competition and evolution in industry demands, standards and
regulations. 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 May 16, 2022 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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