At some point, if you are a Cargo Cult, you begin to realize that the Gods aren't going to step in. You are failing at getting the Cargo and the natives are getting restless. You must appeal to something more reasonable, something you can control. You find the highest ranking human in your group and begin to set up a new strategy. The big metal birds are not landing no matter how you reshape your runways. The headset made of coconuts and sticks cannot be made to summon the cargo planes. It has to be that the people are doing something wrong. They are not using the airport you have designed properly.
The first step is to set up a new agency. Then set up a few more. Devote more resources towards the new groups. Let them define the issues and new terms to discuss said issues. Have meetings. Make claims that things are beginning to succeed, according to the new way of thinking...
BOSTON and LEXINGTON, Mass., Feb. 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Defense Threat Reduction Agency's (DTRA) Joint Science and Technology Office (JSTO) for the Chemical and Biological Defense (CBD) Program has awarded, through the Medical CBRN [Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear] Defense Consortium (MCDC) requirement 22-05, "Adjuvant Activity to Vaccines Prototype," a 5-year contract totaling up to $31 million including program options to the team of Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc. (NYSE: DNA) and SaponiQx, Inc. (a subsidiary of Agenus Inc., NASDAQ:AGEN) to discover and develop next-generation vaccine adjuvants. Partners in adjuvant discovery and development since 2021, Ginkgo, which is building the leading platform for cell programming and biosecurity, and SaponiQx, developing a visionary adjuvant development platform, will use a combination of high-throughput empirical and artificial intelligence/machine learning approaches, including Generative Molecular Design (GMD), to develop superior novel saponin-based adjuvants.
If you look at the SaponiQx website you see a rather sparse pipeline. QS-21 (available for supply) QS-7 and QS-X (R&D phase). At the inception of the company, which coincided with their partnership with Ginkgo, QS-21 was already "available for supply". Very little seems to have been done since 2021 in spite of the two powerhouses in the vaccine adjuvant space.
What has been accomplished is a $31M 5 year contract to develop what the two companies said they were going to develop using their combined expertise. The final piece of the puzzle was this agreement from DTRA, JSTO, CBD through the DBRN, MCDC requirement 22-25.
If all goes according to plan there will be cargo by the year 2029.
No comments:
Post a Comment