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DNA Script Wins $5M From DARPA to Work With Moderna on Vaccine, Therapeutics Manufacturing Platform

NEW YORK — DNA Script said on Tuesday that it has been awarded up to $5 million from the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, or DARPA, to work with Moderna on the development of a prototype system for mobile therapeutic and vaccine manufacture.

The funding is being provided through DARPA's Nucleic Acids On-Demand World-Wide, or NOW, program, which aims to develop a mobile medical countermeasure manufacturing platform for nucleic acid therapeutics and vaccines against biothreats and emerging infectious diseases.

Under the alliance, Paris-based DNA Script will combine its enzymatic DNA synthesis platform with Moderna's existing mRNA manufacturing technology.

Additional terms of the alliance were not disclosed.

"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," DNA Script CEO Thomas Ybert said in a statement.

Earlier this year, DNA Script said it will receive up to $9.6 million as part of a $41 million NOW contract awarded to GE Research.

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