SAN FRANCISCO – Ginkgo Bioworks said on Wednesday that it expects to meet its full-year 2022 revenue guidance, despite foundry revenues coming in below previous guidance of between $150 million and $170 million.
Biosecurity revenues, however, are expected to exceed guidance of $310 million and should allow the synthetic biology firm to meet its guide on revenues in the range of $460 million to $480 million and 55 to 60 new cell programs.
Foundry service revenues "performed as expected," Ginkgo CEO and Cofounder Jason Kelly said in a talk at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference. However, the guidance assumed the firm would receive additional revenues based on customers hitting certain milestones. Those milestones "did not land in the quarter as expected," he said, noting that they were "out of our complete control."
During the Q&A portion of the session, Kelly said biopharma is the market he was "most excited about." The firm has partnerships with Merck, Novo Nordisk, Roche, Eli Lilly, and Moderna, among others. "We basically can play anywhere where cell engineering plays," he said. "It turns out that's basically everywhere, even small molecules."
In December, Ginkgo launched so-called "enzyme services," a "turnkey" process to improve enzymes that has more standardized deal terms. Services include novel enzyme discovery, function and stability optimization, optimized expression in host production strains, optimized fermentation process development, and manufacturing scale-up. The program is based on enzyme-based projects Ginkgo has worked on with Aldevron and Merck.
Going forward, Kelly said he doesn't see biosecurity as a COVID-specific issue. "Countries are now aware that infectious disease can be disruptive," he said.
In Wednesday trading on the New York Stock Exchange, shares of Ginkgo closed up 10 percent at $1.70.