DNA Script has closed a partnership with Moderna to develop a prototype for rapid mobile manufacturing of vaccines and therapeutics, which can be delivered as pandemic prevention treatments. The partnership was promoted in the scope of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Nucleic Acids On-Demand World-Wide (NOW) Program. It will provide up to $5 million to DNA Script for the development of the prototype.
The NOW Program promoted by DARPA aims to develop a mobile, just-in-time manufacturing platform that quickly diagnoses pathogen threats and provides medical countermeasures to deliver fast pandemic prevention treatments. With this vision in mind, DNA Script, a French EIC-funded company, has received funding to deploy a partnership with Moderna that aims to accomplish the goal proposed by DARPA.
Thomas Ybert, Chief Executive Officer of DNA Script, said: “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”.
The disruptive biotech company from France will employ its novel platform together with Moderna’s existing manufacturing technology for the rapid production of messenger RNA therapeutics and vaccines. The prototype’s design envisions a manufacturing unit capable of producing hundreds of doses of medicines in a matter of days, being deployable to remote locations worldwide.
DNA Script has received a Phase 2 Grant from the European Innovation Council to scale up for next-generation enzymatic DNA synthesis and accelerate breakthroughs in life science.
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