DNA Script to Team up With Moderna for Vaccine and Therapeutic Manufacturing for DARPA

DNA Script, a disruptive DNA synthesis company based in France, announced on April 27, 2021 that it has entered into a partnership with Moderna to develop a prototype for rapid mobile manufacturing of vaccines and therapeutics as part of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Nucleic Acids On-Demand World-Wide (NOW) program.

With a $5 million grant from DARPA, the collaboration will involve the use of DNA Script's novel enzymatic synthesis platform to rapidly generate high-fidelity nucleic acids without the use of chemical solvents to power Moderna's manufacturing technology for the production of messenger RNA therapeutics and vaccines, DNA Script said in a company press release.

"We are thrilled to collaborate with Moderna and DARPA on this important initiative to create an innovative biotechnological approach to rapidly detect, characterize, and mitigate threats from newly emerging or engineered pathogens," said Thomas Ybert, CEO of DNA Script, in the press release. "We believe that our fast, efficient, and intuitive Syntax nucleic acid printer, underpinned by our proprietary enzymatic DNA synthesis technology, has the potential to help prevent future pandemics. We're proud to have been selected by both partners receiving awards under this DARPA NOW initiative."