Ginkgo Bioworks and Boehringer Ingelheim Sign $405 Million Drug Discovery Deal

Ginkgo Bioworks, a US-based biotech company, announced a drug discovery partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim on May 8, 2023. Ginkgo will receive upfront research fees and potential R&D, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments totaling $405 million, plus unspecified royalties on any products commercialized through this collaboration.

Under the agreement, the companies will work together on the discovery and development of novel therapeutic molecules for diseases with high unmet patient needs that are considered out of reach of conventional drug discovery. According to a company press release, they will mine Ginkgo’s metagenomic sequence database, composed of structurally novel bioactive molecules, as a means of identifying potential lead molecules.

"Ginkgo is well-positioned to help partners like Boehringer Ingelheim complement their drug discovery efforts particularly when it comes to natural product discovery," said Jason Kelly, CEO and co-founder, Ginkgo Bioworks, in the press release. "We are thrilled to work with Boehringer Ingelheim leveraging our Foundry and Codebase to unlock new possibilities in biopharma innovation."