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Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE:DNA) and XpresSpa Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:XSPA) announced they will continue to support the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) traveler-based SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance program through a new contract awarded August 12, 2022. The partnership is expected to support public health and biosecurity services totaling approximately $16 million, with an overall potential to exceed $61 million based on CDC program options and public health priorities. As COVID-19 sublineages and other biological threats continue to emerge, the partners plan to expand the program footprint and incorporate innovative modalities and offerings, such as monitoring of wastewater from aircraft lavatories.
Concentric by Ginkgo, the biosecurity and public health initiative of Ginkgo Bioworks, XpresCheck by XpresSpa Group, a leading provider of COVID-19 surveillance and diagnostic testing in U.S. airports, and CDC have partnered since August 2021 to deliver timely public health data on SARS-CoV-2 variants and their sublineages, including the first U.S. detections of Omicron BA.2 and BA.3. The expanded program will serve as an early warning system to detect new or emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants, and can facilitate response to future travel-associated outbreaks and pandemics. It provides a pulse of COVID-19 cases and the arrival of variants among international travelers, delivering important data as the country monitors the global COVID-19 situation.
The joint biosecurity effort, which started as a pilot program last year, has grown to become the nation’s first large-scale, sustained travel biosecurity platform, currently operating in four of the busiest international airports in the U.S.: John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK); Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR); San Francisco International Airport (SFO); and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL). Currently, international travelers arriving at these airports from select countries can enroll in the program on a voluntary basis and be sampled for SARS-CoV-2 for pathogen surveillance purposes. Samples are then sent to a lab in Concentric’s network—run by an academic or private partner, such as Eurofins—and positive samples undergo viral genomic sequencing.
The program is slated to expand its footprint with additional testing sites in the existing airport locations along with a new location at Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) this fall, to accommodate a higher volume and diversity of passengers. Concentric and XpresCheck have also led a research and development effort on the use of wastewater monitoring from arriving aircraft as an innovative new tool for travel biosecurity, and plan to work with CDC to explore deployment at scale as a part of the pathogen monitoring program.
Dr. Cindy Friedman, Chief of CDC's Travelers' Health Branch, stated, “This program has clearly demonstrated its potential to provide early warning for new COVID-19 variants, allowing researchers and public health officials across the country time to prepare for targeted response. As many countries ramp down their pathogen surveillance efforts, we expect the partnership will play an increasingly important role not just nationally, but globally. We’re grateful to all the travelers who have participated and done their part to advance innovation in public health.”
“Through our close partnership with CDC and XpresCheck, we’ve been able to build an effective biosecurity platform at critical points of entry to help public health officials mount timely and targeted responses to COVID-19,” said Matt McKnight, General Manager, Biosecurity at Ginkgo. “We share a collaborative, long-term innovation mindset, and we believe this program expansion will give us the opportunity to develop and scale the capabilities needed to provide a global weather map of infectious disease and help manage travel-associated outbreaks and pandemics in the years to come. Public-private partnerships like this help disrupt the panic-neglect cycle that holds us back from achieving accessible and sustainable biosecurity for everyone.”
“Building upon the foundation we previously established amidst the height of the pandemic, the evolution of this program is biosurveillance at scale, and we believe will deliver a further fortified frontline defense to the identification of and protection against COVID-19,” stated Ezra Ernst, Chief Executive Officer of XpresCheck. “Through the renewed investment in this initiative, we and our partners are striving to set a standard for traveler biosecurity. With our understanding of travelers during their journey, alongside the expertise of CDC and Concentric, we’re bringing peace of mind to the public and providing public health officials with key insights to track the spread of disease."
