BOSTON, Aug. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ginkgo
Bioworks, Inc. ("Ginkgo") today announced that Reshma Kewalramani, M.D., FASN, Chief Executive
Officer and President at Vertex, will join its board of directors.
Ginkgo, which recently announced a business combination with
Soaring Eagle Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq:SRNG), is building the
leading horizontal platform for cell programming and serves
customers across industries seeking to develop new and better
products.
Dr. Kewalramani has dedicated her career to improving the lives
of patients, including the last fifteen years working on the
development of new medicines. She joined Vertex in 2017 and was
previously their Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President
of Global Medicines Development and Medical Affairs. During that
time, Vertex made remarkable progress to bring new medicines to
more cystic fibrosis patients around the world, including the rapid
approval of medicines to potentially treat up to 90% of all CF
patients. Under her leadership, Vertex also advanced several
programs outside of CF into the clinic, including programs in cell
and gene therapies. Prior to Vertex, Dr. Kewalramani spent more
than 12 years at Amgen where she held a variety of roles across
Research and Development.
Dr. Kewalramani is a member of the Massachusetts General
Hospital Board of Trustees, the Biomedical Science Careers Program
Board and the Boston University School of
Medicine Dean's Advisory Board. She was the 2019 recipient
of the TiE Boston Healthcare Leadership Award and the 2021
recipient of the International Institute of New England's
Golden Door Award.
"We are honored to have Dr. Kewalramani join our board of
directors. We believe her significant experience driving innovation
and growth will be invaluable as Ginkgo continues to expand its
capabilities and partnerships within the pharmaceutical industry,"
said Jason Kelly, co-founder and CEO
at Ginkgo Bioworks. "Dr. Kewalramani is also dedicated to
developing and supporting the next generation of scientists, which
is something that we hold dear at Ginkgo as well. Her deep industry
expertise and alignment of values will be an excellent addition to
our board."
"I am excited to join Ginkgo's board of directors at such a
pivotal time for the company," said Reshma
Kewalramani, M.D., FASN, Chief Executive Officer and
President at Vertex. "Ginkgo has built a unique and innovative
company over the past thirteen years, and I am particularly excited
by the company's broad platform which holds the potential to
meaningfully transform multiple fields from agriculture to energy
to life sciences. I'm looking forward to working with the Ginkgo
team to build out these capabilities even further as they navigate
their next stage of growth."
Dr. Kewalramani plans to join as the eighth board member for
Ginkgo Bioworks. Current board members include Dr. Jason Kelly, co-founder and CEO of Ginkgo
Bioworks; Dr. Reshma Shetty,
co-founder, President and Chief Operating Officer of Ginkgo
Bioworks; Marijn Dekkers, founder and chairman of Novalis
LifeSciences LLC; Christian Henry,
President and CEO of Pacific Biosciences; and Shyam Sankar, Chief Operating Officer and
Executive Vice President of Palantir. Dr. Kewalramani plans to join
the board immediately after the close of Ginkgo's business
combination with Soaring Eagle Acquisition Corp., along with
Harry Sloan, Chairman and CEO of
Eagle Equity Partners II, LLC and Dr. Arie Belldegrun, MD, FACS,
Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of Allogene Therapeutics.
About Ginkgo Bioworks
Ginkgo 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 is also actively
supporting a number of COVID-19 response efforts, including K-12
pooled testing, vaccine manufacturing optimization and therapeutics
discovery. In May 2021, Ginkgo
announced a business combination with Soaring Eagle Acquisition
Corp. (Nasdaq:SRNG), which, if completed, will result in Ginkgo,
through a parent entity, Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc., becoming a
public company. The transaction is expected to close in the third
quarter of 2021, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals,
and other customary closing conditions. For more information, visit
www.ginkgobioworks.com.
ADDITIONAL LEGAL INFORMATION
Forward-Looking Statements Legend
This document contains certain forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the federal securities laws with respect to the
proposed transaction between Ginkgo and Soaring Eagle Acquisition
Corp. ("SRNG"), including statements regarding the benefits of the
transaction, the anticipated timing of the transaction, the
services offered by Ginkgo and the markets in which it operates,
and Ginkgo's projected future results. These forward-looking
statements generally are identified by the words "believe,"
"project," "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 risk that the transaction may not be completed
in a timely manner or at all, which may adversely affect the price
of SRNG's securities, (ii) the risk that the transaction may not be
completed by SRNG's business combination deadline and the potential
failure to obtain an extension of the business combination deadline
if sought by SRNG, (iii) the failure to satisfy the conditions to
the consummation of the transaction, including the adoption of the
agreement and plan of merger by the shareholders of SRNG and
Ginkgo, the satisfaction of the minimum trust account amount
following redemptions by SRNG's public shareholders and the receipt
of certain governmental and regulatory approvals, (iv) the lack of
a third party valuation in determining whether or not to pursue the
proposed transaction, (v) the occurrence of any event, change or
other circumstance that could give rise to the termination of the
agreement and plan of merger, (vi) the effect of the announcement
or pendency of the transaction on Ginkgo business relationships,
performance, and business generally, (vii) risks that the proposed
transaction disrupts current plans of Ginkgo and potential
difficulties in Ginkgo employee retention as a result of the
proposed transaction, (viii) the outcome of any legal proceedings
that may be instituted against Ginkgo or against SRNG related to
the agreement and plan of merger or the proposed transaction, (ix)
the ability to maintain the listing of SRNG's securities on Nasdaq,
(x) volatility in the price of SRNG's securities 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, (xi) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts,
and other expectations after the completion of the proposed
transaction, and identify and realize additional opportunities, and
(xii) 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 SRNG's
proxy statement/prospectus relating to the transaction, and in
SRNG's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission
(the "SEC"). SRNG and Ginkgo caution that the foregoing list of
factors is not exclusive. SRNG and Ginkgo caution readers not to
place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which
speak only as of the date made. Neither SRNG nor Ginkgo undertake
or accept any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any
updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect
any change in its expectations or any change in events, conditions
or circumstances on which any such statement is based.
Additional Information and Where to Find It
This document relates to a proposed transaction between Ginkgo
and SRNG. This document does not constitute an offer to sell or
exchange, or the solicitation of an offer to buy or exchange, any
securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any
jurisdiction in which such offer, sale or exchange would be
unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the
securities laws of any such jurisdiction. In connection with the
proposed transaction, SRNG filed a registration statement on Form
S-4/A with the SEC on July 16, 2021,
which included a proxy statement of SRNG and a prospectus of SRNG.
The definitive proxy statement/prospectus will be sent to all SRNG
shareholders as of the record date to be established for voting on
the proposed business combination and Ginkgo stockholders. SRNG
also will file other documents regarding the proposed transaction
with the SEC. Before making any voting decision, investors and
security holders of SRNG and Ginkgo are urged to read the
registration statement, the proxy statement/prospectus and all
other relevant documents filed or that will be filed with the SEC
in connection with the proposed transaction as they become
available because they will contain important information about the
proposed transaction.
Investors and security holders may obtain free copies of the
proxy statement/prospectus and all other relevant documents filed
or that will be filed with the SEC by SRNG through the website
maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov. In addition, the documents
filed by SRNG may be obtained free of charge by written request to
SRNG at 955 Fifth Avenue, New York,
NY, 10075, Attention: Eli
Baker, Chief Financial Officer, (310) 209-7280.
Participants in Solicitation
SRNG's and Ginkgo and their respective directors and officers
may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies
from SRNG's stockholders in connection with the proposed
transaction. Information about SRNG's directors and executive
officers and their ownership of SRNG's securities is set forth in
SRNG's filings with the SEC. To the extent that holdings of SRNG's
securities have changed since the amounts printed in SRNG's proxy
statement, such changes have been or will be reflected on
Statements of Change in Ownership on Form 4 filed with the SEC.
Additional information regarding the interests of those persons and
other persons who may be deemed participants in the proposed
transaction may be obtained by reading the proxy
statement/prospectus regarding the proposed transaction when it
becomes available. You may obtain free copies of these documents as
described in the preceding paragraph.
Media Contact: press@ginkgobioworks.com
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SOURCE Ginkgo Bioworks