Synlogic, Inc. (NASDAQ:SYBX) rose Wednesday. Synlogic and Ginkgo Bioworks disclosed a platform collaboration for accelerated development of novel synthetic biotic medicines.
Ginkgo is based in Boston, Synlogic, just up the road in Cambridge, Mass.
Wednesday’s news release heralding the deal said it provides an $80-million equity investment at a premium in Synlogic by Ginkgo and entry into a long-term strategic platform collaboration. Synlogic will use Ginkgo’s cell programming platform for building and testing thousands of microbial strains to accelerate progression of early preclinical leads to drug candidates optimized for further clinical development.
Synlogic CEO Aoife Brennan enthused, "This collaboration significantly enhances Synlogic’s Synthetic Biotic strain optimization capabilities and builds on the successful pilot program we began with Ginkgo in late 2017. It enables us to advance high-quality candidate strains into development more efficiently and provides technology and resources that will fuel pipeline expansion as we continue to advance our existing clinical programs."
More in to the nuts and bolts of the deal: Ginkgo purchased 6,340,771 shares of Synlogic common stock as well as pre-funded warrants to purchase up to 2,548,117 shares of Synlogic common stock, both at a price of $9.00 per share. Gross proceeds to Synlogic are approximately $80 million. The transactions were executed and closed on June 11, 2019. At the closing, under the foundry services agreement, Synlogic paid $30.0 million to Ginkgo for synthetic biology services to be provided over an initial period of five years which can be extended.
SYBX shares opened Wednesday towering $1.22, or 19.5%, over Tuesday’s close, to $7.49
