Inside Ginkgo’s SPAC deal

Hello,

Welcome to Insider Healthcare. I'm Lydia Ramsey Pflanzer, and today in healthcare news:

• We take a look inside Ginkgo's filings as it prepares to go public via SPAC at a $15 billion (!) valuation;
• These are the banks hiring healthcare dealmakers;
• The US is testing whether mixing booster COVID-19 shots is safe.

If you're new to this newsletter, sign up here. Comments, tips? Email me at [email protected] or tweet @lydiaramsey125. Let's get to it…

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Ginkgo Bioworks is playing to investors hunting for the next Amazon. But 2 experts say the biotech is overvalued and overambitious.

• Ginkgo Bioworks, a synthetic-biology company, is going public via SPAC, at a $15 billion valuation.
• Ginkgo helps drugmakers, consumer brands, and agricultural companies develop specialized microbes.
• Experts are skeptical of the substantial growth plans Ginkgo has promised investors.

Get the full story>>

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Here's which Wall Street banks are snapping up healthcare dealmakers in what one headhunter calls an 'extremely, extremely active' hiring market

• Healthcare investment bankers are in high demand, and many rainmakers are on the move.
• Firms like SVB Leerink, JPMorgan, and Deutsche Bank are all poaching top talent.

Insider is tracking all of the big moves in the healthcare banking world>>

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The US launches a one-of-a-kind trial to tell us whether mixing vaccine booster shots is a good idea

• The US is testing whether mix-and-match booster vaccines for COVID-19 work and are safe.
• An NIAID-backed trial will test giving a dose of Moderna's COVID-19 shot to fully vaccinated people.
• The people may have previously received vaccines from Moderna, Pfizer, or Johnson & Johnson.

Find out more>>

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More stories we're reading:

• Fauci's emails show how he was flooded with concerns for his health, interview requests, and dubious PPE ideas at the start of the pandemic. He sometimes replied in the dead of night. (Insider)
• Inside the death of Philadelphia's Hahnemann University Hospital (The New Yorker)
• The White House just announced a ton of incentives companies are offering Americans who get vaccinated against COVID-19, including free beer for everyone over 21 (Insider)
• Direct-to-consumer healthcare startup Thirty Madison is now valued at more than $1 billion (Bloomberg)

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- Lydia