Lygos and Ginkgo Bioworks Announce Partnership to Optimize Production of Biobased Specialty Chemicals

Strain development program aims to accelerate efforts to create sustainable chemicals

BERKELEY, Calif. and BOSTON, Nov. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Lygos, Inc., a vertically integrated provider of sustainable specialty ingredients, and Ginkgo Bioworks DNA, the leading horizontal platform for cell programming, today announced a multi-product research and development collaboration designed to optimize and scale production of sustainable specialty ingredients that can replace toxic petrochemistry, reclaim local manufacturing, and advance industrial bio-innovation.

Under the terms of the deal, Lygos and Ginkgo plan to advance two research and development programs over the course of approximately two years. Lygos' organic acid targets are used to produce biodegradable formulations and polymer-based products used in consumer, agricultural, and industrial markets. Ginkgo will leverage its extensive expertise in strain development and metabolic engineering as it works to rapidly design and optimize microorganisms that can convert low-cost sugar to high-value chemicals, providing a more sustainable alternative to the traditional industrial chemicals that are made from petroleum-derived feedstock.

"Many specialty organic acids rely on environmentally damaging and costly production processes. We're excited to be working with Lygos to replace some of those harmful production methods with sustainable, environmentally friendly biomanufacturing processes," said Ena Cratsenburg, Chief Business Officer at Ginkgo Bioworks. "Ginkgo is committed to creating solutions that are better for the planet, and this partnership with Lygos will help advance our initiatives around climate sustainability while supporting domestic manufacturing and technology development."

"Lygos and Ginkgo have been at the forefront of this field, enabling customers to create sustainable products that can help solve the world's environmental challenges and improve everyday products," said Eric Steen, PhD, CEO at Lygos.  "The new partnership will enable us to augment our development timelines, allocate more research and development, and accelerate our product commercialization programs."

About Lygos

Lygos is a leading provider of safe and sustainable specialty ingredients that help improve everyday products. The company's proprietary production platform uses advanced biology and chemistry to convert low-cost sugar to high-value and multi-functional products. These environmentally friendly ingredients are designed to help solve industrial supply chain issues, replace toxic petrochemistry, and revive the bioeconomy. Lygos is based in the San Francisco Bay Area and was founded by a team of engineers from UC Berkeley. For more information, visit www.lygos.com and follow us @LygosBiotech.

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 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, (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.

LYGOS MEDIA CONTACT:
Andrew Noble
andrew_noble@noblecomms.com

GINKGO BIOWORKS INVESTOR CONTACT:
investors@ginkgobioworks.com

GINKGO BIOWORKS MEDIA CONTACT:
press@ginkgobioworks.com

SOURCE Ginkgo Bioworks