Ginkgo Bioworks to develop antibody manufacturing innovations under BARDA project

Boston-based Ginkgo Bioworks announced it has received a project agreement from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority’s (BARDA) Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Preparedness Consortium (BioMaP-Consortium). The $22.2 million project aims to develop new approaches that improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of U.S. monoclonal antibody (mAb) manufacturing.

The endeavor will reportedly support process innovations for producing monoclonal antibody-based medical countermeasures targeting filoviruses, including Ebola (EBOV) and Sudan viruses (SUDV). Ginkgo said the initiative includes development and production of the anti-filovirus monoclonal antibody cocktail 1C3 and 1C11, which were discovered and developed by Emory University.

Ginkgo will lead a consortium that includes Advanced BioScience Laboratories (ABL), Isolere Bio by Donaldson, NeuImmune, and ProteoNic. The partners will integrate technologies across the mAb manufacturing process to improve scalability and reduce costs. “Rapidly scalable and cost-effective manufacturing of mAbs is crucial to our national biosecurity and public health preparedness,” Jennifer Wipf, general manager of Ginkgo’s Discovery & Manufacturing Solutions unit, said in a statement.

Consortium members said their participation will leverage complementary capabilities in cell-line engineering, purification, and process development. “The team assembled brings together technology that will change the goal posts for how efficacy is defined against infectious diseases,” said Tim Fouts, CSO of ABL.

The project expands Ginkgo’s ongoing work with BARDA to strengthen domestic biomanufacturing capacity and preparedness against emerging infectious disease threats, the company said.