Ginkgo Bioworks lands ARPA-H contract to develop pharmaceuticals from wheat

In Massachusetts, Ginkgo Bioworks announced a new contract with the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), alongside partners Tritica Biosciences, US Pharmacopeia (USP), On Demand Pharmaceuticals, and Isolere Bio by Donaldson. This two-year program, Wheat-based High efficiency Enzyme and API Technology (WHEAT), aims to establish a new manufacturing process for the distributed production of biologic and small molecule active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) using wheat germ cell-free expression systems.

Under the $29 million contract, Ginkgo will combine its Enzyme Services and expertise in cell-free systems with the expertise and experience of its partners in upstream extract preparation, API downstream processing, quality metrics, and modular, on-demand API manufacturing methods, with the aim of developing affordable cell-free biological processes to produce essential medicines. By utilizing wheat germ – an abundant and renewable resource – and developing methods to produce medicines exactly where and when they are needed, the partnership seeks to create a new paradigm for domestic manufacturing of critical medicines, stabilizing and reshoring supply chains for essential pharmaceuticals. This strategy shifts API production from fragile global supply chains to a robust, decentralized system using Cell-Free Protein Synthesis (CFPS).