Ginkgo is getting deeper into biotech

A Boston-based company better known for reprogramming bacteria to make perfume and fertilizer is making yet another move into biopharma.

Ginkgo Bioworks announced this morning that it is investing about $80 million into Synlogic, a company developing genetically modified, living bacteria as therapeutics. In return, Synlogic is paying about $30 million to Ginkgo for its services over five years.

The deal comes more than a year after the two companies launched a pilot program, and this isn’t Gingko’s first move into pharmaceuticals. The company signed a deal in 2018 to produce compounds for one of Canada’s many cannabinoid companies. It also inherited an antibiotics deal with Roche in May, when it bought a piece of Cambridge biotech Warp Drive Bio after the latter company shut down.