BOSTON & CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ginkgo
Bioworks, the organism company, and Synlogic,
Inc. (Nasdaq:
SYBX), the clinical-stage drug discovery and development company
developing novel Synthetic Biotic™ medicines, today announced a
collaboration to discover new living medicines to treat neurological and
liver disorders. Synthetic Biotic medicines are living medicines in
which engineered probiotics are designed to perform critical metabolic
conversions in the gut that can replace physiological activity missing
or damaged in patients.
“We
have applied our automated foundry to design organisms for a wide range
of industries and are excited to leverage our platform for therapeutics
development for the very first time. Synlogic is the perfect partner for
us as we set out to pursue the challenge of designing living medicines.”
Together, Synlogic and Ginkgo aim to transform the discovery and design
of living medicines. Ginkgo’s automated foundry and expertise in
high-throughput organism screening and design, combined with Synlogic’s
insights and expertise in discovery, translational and clinical
development of Synthetic Biotic medicines will enhance Synlogic’s
powerful drug discovery engine, enabling iteration through thousands of
drug leads with great speed and precision. Synlogic’s core expertise in
building Synthetic Biotic medicines for clinically-relevant potency,
quantitative pharmacology, dose response, and reproducible manufacturing
will further accelerate the development of novel gut-based therapeutics.
“Combining synthetic biology and the microbiome to make living medicines
is a novel, promising approach to developing treatments for a wide
variety of conditions,” said Jason Kelly, CEO of Ginkgo Bioworks. “We
have applied our automated foundry to design organisms for a wide range
of industries and are excited to leverage our platform for therapeutics
development for the very first time. Synlogic is the perfect partner for
us as we set out to pursue the challenge of designing living medicines.”
This collaboration is the first step toward an anticipated broad effort
to generate a portfolio of transformational living medicine drug leads.
The focus of this collaboration will be combining optimization
capabilities, establishing the working model behind the joint discovery
engine, and generating drug leads. The parties expect to further
collaborate to explore how their technologies can be used to treat a
broad range of neurological and liver conditions. The companies will
jointly seek strategic partners for portfolio expansion, clinical
development, and commercialization in these disease areas.
“Our mission is to unlock the broad potential of Synthetic Biotic
medicines and bring them to patients,” said JC Gutiérrez-Ramos, Ph.D.,
Synlogic’s president and CEO. “There is massive need among the
approximately 100 million Americans suffering from neurological
conditions and 30 million from liver disease. There is strong scientific
evidence that neurologic conditions can be modulated by taking advantage
of the natural cross talk between gut and the brain, a conversation that
involves hundreds of well-characterized metabolites. In our
first-in-human study to treat hyperammonemia, we demonstrated a
pharmacological effect and dose responses on systemic metabolites with a
Synthetic Biotic medicine that acts from the gut. As we observed this
effect in non-human primates in our phenylketonuria program, we now have
two examples in toxic encephalopathies of Synthetic Biotic medicines
modifying metabolites through their programmed mechanisms while acting
in different regions of the gut in human and non-human primates. We look
forward to creating a powerful new drug discovery and development engine
with Ginkgo to deliver Synthetic Biotic medicines to modulate
metabolites that influence the brain and liver.”
There is potential for both parties to further develop technology
generated during the collaboration. Financial terms of the collaboration
are not disclosed.
About Ginkgo Bioworks
Headquartered in Boston, Ginkgo Bioworks uses the most advanced
technology on the planet – biology – to grow products instead of
manufacturing them. The company’s technology platform is bringing
biotechnology into consumer goods markets, enabling fragrance, cosmetic,
nutrition, food, agriculture and pharmaceuticals to make better
products. For more information, visit www.ginkgobioworks.com.
About Synlogic
Synlogic is pioneering the development of a novel class of living,
Synthetic Biotic medicines, based on its proprietary drug development
platform. Synlogic’s initial pipeline includes Synthetic Biotic
medicines for the treatment of rare genetic diseases, such as urea cycle
disorders (UCD) and phenylketonuria (PKU). In addition, the company is
leveraging the broad potential of its platform to create Synthetic
Biotic medicines for the treatment of more common diseases, including
liver disease, inflammatory and immune disorders, and
cancer. Synlogic is collaborating with AbbVie to develop Synthetic
Biotic-based treatments for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). For more
information, please visit www.synlogictx.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” that involve
substantial risks and uncertainties for purposes of the safe harbor
provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All
statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this
press release regarding strategy, future operations, future financial
position, future revenue, projected expenses, prospects, plans and
objectives of management are forward-looking statements. In addition,
when or if used in this press release, the words “may,” “could,”
“should,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,”
“plan,” “predict” and similar expressions and their variants, as they
relate to Synlogic may identify forward-looking statements. Examples of
forward-looking statements, include, but are not limited to, statements
regarding the potential of Synlogic’s and Ginkgo’s platforms to develop
therapeutics to address a wide range of diseases, including neurological
and liver disorders; the future clinical development of Synthetic Biotic
medicines; the approach that Synlogic and Gingko are taking to discover
and develop novel therapeutics using synthetic biology; the potential of
Synlogic’s technology to treat hyperammonemia. Actual results could
differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement
as a result of various factors, including: the uncertainties inherent in
the preclinical development process; the ability of Synlogic to protect
its intellectual property rights; and legislative, regulatory, political
and economic developments, as well as those risks identified under the
heading “Risk Factors” in Synlogic’s filings with the SEC. The
forward-looking statements contained in this press release reflect
Synlogic’s current views with respect to future events. Synlogic
anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause its views
to change. However, while Synlogic may elect to update these
forward-looking statements in the future, Synlogic specifically
disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements
should not be relied upon as representing Synlogic’s view as of any date
subsequent to the date hereof.