Ginkgo Bioworks and the Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia Announce Plans to Develop Biosecurity and Biotechnology Capabilities for Global Public Health

Collaboration aims to bolster capabilities of key public health and research institutions, launch new biosecurity initiatives, and drive the development of the bioeconomy

BOSTON and RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA), the leading horizontal platform for cell programming, and the Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia ("MISA"), representing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, today announced that they have entered into a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding with the intent of developing biotechnology and biosecurity capabilities to deploy new public health initiatives in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 

MISA is tasked with developing the cross-government investment ecosystem in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including biotechnology and biosecurity capabilities. Ginkgo is building upon the large-scale COVID-19 monitoring platform developed by its biosecurity and public health arm, Concentric by Ginkgo, to create sustainable global biosecurity infrastructure to help prevent, detect, and respond to a wide variety of biological threats. Together, they will work to add another node to a global network of pathogen monitoring infrastructure. 

The partnership is aimed at supporting public health efforts through programs for pathogen monitoring and sequencing as well as other important capabilities such as improving medical supply chains. This will include work to leverage technologies such as laboratory automation, data analysis, next-generation sequencing, and bioinformatics, as well as pathogen detection assays and monitoring methods. Ginkgo, in partnership with MISA and other institutions, will support and partner in the development of such capabilities. Ginkgo will also seek to rapidly leverage these capabilities to implement innovative biosecurity and public health infrastructure to monitor for pathogens at ports of entry and other key nodes, such as congregate settings or agricultural sites where humans interact closely with livestock.

"Biotechnology holds incredible potential to deliver benefits to human and environmental health as well as global health security. We recognize the importance of sustainable global infrastructure for biosecurity, underpinned by a global bioeconomy, and know that it's only possible through international collaboration," said Matt McKnight, General Manager, Biosecurity at Ginkgo Bioworks. "We are pleased to work with the Ministry of Investment as they work to expand these critical capabilities within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to address domestic and global biosecurity challenges."

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.

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 biosecurity 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, (viii) changes to the biosecurity industry, including due to advancements in technology, emerging competition and evolution in industry demands, standards and regulations, and (ix) our ability to realize the expected benefits of merger and acquisition transactions. 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 August 15, 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 MEDIA CONTACT:
press@ginkgobioworks.com 

GINKGO INVESTOR CONTACT:
investors@ginkgobioworks.com 

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SOURCE Ginkgo Bioworks