Operation Expanded Testing provides no cost COVID-19 testing for schools, community organizations, and underserved populations

December 13, 2021 07:30 AM Eastern Standard Time

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Clinical Enterprise, Inc., a Eurofins Scientific Company, today announced it has launched a new partnership with Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA) to support Operation Expanded Testing Program with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Defense. Operation Expanded Testing provides fully federally funded COVID-19 PCR testing to K-12 public and private schools, Historically Black Colleges & Universities, daycare centers, community organizations, congregate settings, correctional facilities, and underserved communities. The program helps to equip these organizations with testing guidance and resources, promoting equity in COVID-19 testing and mitigation.Clinical Enterprise and the Eurofins U.S. Clinical Diagnostics team are excited to partner with Ginkgo Bioworks to provide these organizations a fast and reliable solution to help detect asymptomatic infections in order to reduce transmission, prevent outbreaks, and protect vulnerable populations. Throughout the pandemic, Ginkgo Bioworks has supported widespread surveillance testing through its biosecurity and public health effort, Concentric by Ginkgo. Concentric currently provides an integrated COVID-19 testing platform for over 220,000 individuals per week through its programs in K-12 schools, correctional facilities, and airports. Concentric’s involvement will help the organizations already participating in the program to implement testing and will provide the opportunity to expand testing to more sites and organizations.“Through this collaboration with the incredible team at Eurofins, we can empower community leaders with critical information while helping to keep kids in class and COVID-19 out,” said Matthew McKnight, Ginkgo’s Chief Commercial Officer. “We believe the biosecurity tools provided through this program will support public health across the country.”To date, Clinical Enterprise has enrolled schools and organizations in 26 states in the northeast and south regions, as well as Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands.To learn more, please visit www.OperationExpandedTesting.com.This project has been funded in whole or in part by the U.S. Government under Agreement No. W52P1J-21-9-200. The U.S. Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Governmental purposes notwithstanding any copyright notation thereon.About Eurofins – the global leader in bio-analysisEurofins is Testing for Life. Eurofins companies are global leaders in food, environment, and pharmaceutical product testing. They are also market leaders in testing and laboratory services for genomics, discovery pharmacology, forensics, advanced material sciences and have a rapidly developing presence in highly specialized and molecular clinical diagnostic testing.With over 50,000 staff across a network of more than 800 laboratories in over 50 countries, Eurofins’ companies offer a portfolio of over 200,000 analytical methods.Eurofins shares are listed on Euronext Paris Stock Exchange.About GinkgoGinkgo is building a platform to enable customers to program cells as easily as we can program computers. The company's platform is enabling biotechnology applications across diverse markets, from food and agriculture to industrial chemicals to pharmaceuticals. Ginkgo has also actively supported a number of COVID-19 response efforts, including K-12 pooled testing, vaccine manufacturing optimization, and therapeutics discovery. For more information, visit www.ginkgobioworks.com.Ginkgo Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding the potential of Ginkgo's biosecurity capabilities and partnership with Eurofins. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words "believe," "project," "potential," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "strategy," "future," "opportunity," "plan," "may," "should," "will," "would," "will be," "will continue," "will likely result," and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this document, including but not limited to: (i) the effect of the business combination with Soaring Eagle Acquisition Corp. ("Soaring Eagle") on Ginkgo's business relationships, performance, and business generally, (ii) risks that the business combination disrupts current plans of Ginkgo and potential difficulties in Ginkgo's employee retention, (iii) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Ginkgo related to its business combination with Soaring Eagle, (iv) volatility in the price of Ginkgo's securities now that it is a public company due to a variety of factors, including changes in the competitive and highly regulated industries in which Ginkgo plans to operate, variations in performance across competitors, changes in laws and regulations affecting Ginkgo's business and changes in the combined capital structure, (v) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations after the completion of the business combination, and identify and realize additional opportunities, and (vi) the risk of downturns in demand for products using synthetic biology. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties described in the "Risk Factors" section of Ginkgo's quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on November 15, 2021 and other documents filed by Ginkgo from time to time with the SEC. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and Ginkgo assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Ginkgo does not give any assurance that it will achieve its expectations.

Contacts

EurofinsTim MakrisTimothyMakris@eurofins-usclinical.comGinkgo:INVESTOR:investors@ginkgobioworks.comMEDIA:press@ginkgobioworks.comSource: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211213005158/en/Eurofins%E2%80%99-Clinical-Enterprise-Launches-New-Partnership-with-Ginkgo-Bioworks-to-Support-Federally-Funded-COVID-19-PCR-Testing-Program