Subject To Completion. Dated July 9, 2013.

Shares

Common Stock

This is an initial public offering of shares of common stock of Intrexon Corporation.

We are offering                  shares to be sold in this offering.

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our common stock. It is currently estimated that the initial public offering price per share will be between $         and $        . We intend to list our common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “XON.” We have not yet filed an application to have our common stock approved for listing. We intend to file such application following the filing of this registration statement.

We are an “emerging growth company” as defined under the federal securities laws, and as such, may elect to comply with certain reduced public company reporting requirements. See “ Risk factors ” beginning on page 11 to read about factors you should consider before buying shares of our common stock.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

We have granted the underwriters an option for a period of 30 days to purchase up to              additional shares of common stock from us at the initial public offering price less the underwriting discount.

The underwriters expect to deliver the shares on or about                     , 2013.

Prospectus dated                     , 2013.

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Through and including                     , 2013 (the 25 ^th day after the date of this prospectus), all dealers effecting transactions in these securities, whether or not participating in this offering, may be required to deliver a prospectus. This is in addition to a dealer’s obligation to deliver a prospectus when acting as an underwriter and with respect to an unsold allotment or subscription.

We are responsible for the information contained in this prospectus. We have not authorized anyone to provide you with different information, and we take no responsibility for any other information others may give you. If anyone provides you with different or inconsistent information, you should not rely on it. We are not, and the underwriters are not, making an offer to sell these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted. You should not assume that the information contained in this prospectus is accurate as of any date other than the date on the front of this prospectus.

For investors outside the United States: Neither we nor any of the underwriters have taken any action to permit a public offering of the shares of our common stock or the possession or distribution of this prospectus in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required, other than the United States. You are required to inform yourselves about and to observe any restrictions relating to this offering and the distribution of this prospectus.

This prospectus includes statistical and other industry and market data that we obtained from industry publications and research, surveys and studies conducted by third parties. Industry publications and third-party research, surveys and studies generally indicate that their information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, although they do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of such information.

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Risk factors

Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this prospectus, including our consolidated financial statements and the related notes appearing at the end of this prospectus, before making your decision to invest in shares of our common stock. We cannot assure you that any of the events discussed in the risk factors below will not occur. These risks could have a material and adverse impact on our business, results of operations, financial condition or prospects. If that were to happen, the trading price of our common stock could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.

This prospectus also contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including the risks faced by us described below and elsewhere in this prospectus. See “Special note regarding forward-looking statements” for information relating to these forward-looking statements.

Risks related to our financial position, operating results and need for additional capital

We have a history of net losses, and we may not achieve or maintain profitability.

We have incurred net losses since our inception, including losses of $81.9 million and $85.3 million in 2012 and 2011, respectively, and we incurred a net loss of $36.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2013. As of March 31, 2013, we had an accumulated deficit of $363.5 million. We may incur losses and negative cash flow from operating activities for the foreseeable future. To date, we have derived a substantial portion of our revenues from exclusive channel collaborations, or ECCs, with our collaborators and expect to derive a substantial portion of our revenues from these and additional ECCs for the foreseeable future. If our existing collaborators terminate their ECCs with us or we are unable to enter into new ECCs, our revenues could be adversely affected. In addition, certain of our ECCs provide for milestone payments, future royalties and other forms of contingent consideration, the payment of which are uncertain as they are dependent on our collaborators’ abilities and willingness to successfully develop and commercialize products. We expect a significant period of time will pass before the achievement of contractual milestones and the realization of royalties on products commercialized under our ECCs. As a result, we expect that our expenses will exceed revenues for the foreseeable future, and we may not achieve profitability. If we fail to achieve profitability, or if the time required to achieve profitability is longer than we anticipate, we may not be able to continue our business. Even if we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis.

We may need substantial additional capital in the future in order to fund our business.

We expect our future capital requirements will be substantial, particularly as we continue to develop our business and expand our synthetic biology technology platform. Although we believe that, based on our current level of operations and anticipated growth, our existing cash and cash equivalents and cash expected to be received from our current collaborators will provide adequate funds for ongoing operations, planned capital expenditures and working capital requirements through at least the next 12 months, we may need additional capital if our

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current plans and assumptions change. Our need for additional capital will depend on many factors, including:

If our capital resources are insufficient to meet our capital requirements, and we are unable to enter into or maintain ECCs with collaborators that are able or willing to fund development efforts or commercialize products enabled by our technologies, we will have to raise additional funds to continue the development of our technologies and complete the commercialization of products, if any, resulting from our technologies. If future financings involve the issuance of equity securities, our existing shareholders would suffer dilution. If we raise debt financing, we may be subject to restrictive covenants that limit our ability to conduct our business. We may not be able to raise sufficient additional funds on terms that are favorable to us, if at all. If we fail to raise sufficient funds and continue to incur losses, our ability to fund our operations, take advantage of strategic opportunities, develop products or technologies, or otherwise respond to competitive pressures could be significantly limited. If this happens, we may be forced to delay or terminate research or development programs or the commercialization of products resulting from our technologies, curtail or cease operations or obtain funds through ECCs or other collaborative and licensing arrangements that may require us to relinquish commercial rights, or grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us. If adequate funds are not available, we will not be able to successfully execute our business plan or continue our business.

Our quarterly and annual operating results may fluctuate in the future. As a result, we may fail to meet or exceed the expectations of research analysts or investors, which could cause our stock price to decline.

Our financial condition and operating results have varied significantly in the past and may continue to fluctuate from quarter to quarter and year to year in the future due to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control. Factors relating to our business that may contribute to these fluctuations include the following factors, as well as other factors described elsewhere in this prospectus:

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Due to the various factors mentioned above, and others, the results of any prior quarterly or annual periods should not be relied upon as indications of our future operating performance.

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We have a limited operating history, which may make it difficult to evaluate our current business and predict our future performance.

We have been in existence since 1998. From 1998 until 2010, our operations focused primarily on organizing and staffing our Company and developing our technologies. Our current business model has not been tested. In January 2011, we recognized our first revenues from our first ECC. Because our revenue growth has occurred in recent periods, our limited operating history may make it difficult to evaluate our current business and predict our future performance. Any assessments of our current business and predictions made about our future success or viability may not be as accurate as they could be if we had a longer operating history. We have encountered and will continue to encounter risks and difficulties frequently experienced by growing companies in rapidly changing industries. If we do not address these risks successfully, our business will be harmed. If we engage in any acquisitions, we will incur a variety of costs and may potentially face numerous risks that could adversely affect our business and operations.

We may pursue strategic acquisitions and investments which could have an adverse impact on our business if they are unsuccessful.

We have made acquisitions in the past, and if appropriate opportunities become available, we may acquire additional businesses, assets, technologies or products to enhance our business in the future. In connection with any future acquisitions, we could:

Although we conduct due diligence reviews of our acquisition targets, such processes may fail to reveal significant liabilities. Acquisitions involve numerous risks, including:

We do not have extensive experience in managing the integration process, and we may not be able to successfully integrate any businesses, assets, products, technologies or personnel that we might acquire in the future without a significant expenditure of operating, financial and management resources. The integration process could divert management time from focusing on operating our business, result in a decline in employee morale and cause retention issues to arise from changes in compensation, reporting relationships, future prospects or the direction of the business. Acquisitions also may require us to record goodwill and non-amortizable intangible assets that will be subject to impairment testing on a regular basis and potential periodic impairment charges, incur amortization expenses related to certain intangible assets, and incur large and immediate write-offs and restructuring and other related expenses, all of which could

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harm our operating results and financial condition. In addition, we may acquire companies that have insufficient internal financial controls, which could impair our ability to integrate the acquired company and adversely impact our financial reporting. If we fail in our integration efforts with respect to any of our acquisitions and are unable to efficiently operate as a combined organization, our business and financial condition may be adversely affected.

We own equity interests in several of our collaborators and have exposure to the volatility and liquidity risks inherent in holding their common stock.

In connection with our ECCs, we generally receive technology access fees. Because several of our collaborators are private companies or public corporations with limited capital, we allow them to pay our access fee in stock. As a result, we own equity interests in several of our collaborators. We may continue to provide this alternative to our collaborators. Owning equity in our collaborators further increases our exposure to the risks of our collaborators’ businesses beyond our dependence on these collaborators to provide market and product development expertise, as well as sales, marketing and regulatory capabilities. Our equity ownership in our collaborators exposes us to volatility and the potential for negative returns. In many cases, our equity position is a minority position which exposes us to further risk as we are not able to exert control over the companies in which we hold securities.

We select collaborators based on a variety of factors such as their capabilities, capacity and expertise in a defined field. As described above, we may allow the collaborator to pay our access fee in cash or equity securities. As a result, the process by which we obtain equity interests in our collaborators and the factors we consider in deciding whether to acquire, hold or dispose of these equity positions may differ significantly from those that an independent investor would consider when purchasing equity interests in the collaborator. One significant factor would include our own expectation as to the success of our efforts to assist the collaborator in developing products enabled by our technologies.

We own common stock of several publicly traded companies and the values of those equity interests are subject to market price volatility. For each collaborator where we own equity securities, we make an accounting policy election to present them at either the fair value at the end of each reporting period or using the cost or equity method depending on our level of influence. We have adopted the fair value method of accounting for certain of these securities, and therefore, have recorded them at fair value at the end of each reporting period with the unrealized gain or loss recorded as a separate component of other expense, net for the period. As of March 31, 2013 and December 31, 2012, the aggregate original cost basis of these securities was $94.5 million and $92.1 million, respectively, and the market value was $56.1 million and $83.1 million, respectively. The fair value of these securities is subject to fluctuation in the future due to the volatility of the stock market, changes in general economic conditions and changes in the financial conditions of one or more collaborators.

The common stock of our collaborators may not be publicly traded, and if it is traded publicly, the trading market could be limited or have low trading volume. In some cases, we could hold unregistered shares and we may not have demand registration rights with respect to those shares. We evaluate whether any discounts for trading restrictions or other basis for lack of marketability should be applied to the fair value of the securities at inception of the ECC. In the event we conclude that a discount should be applied, the fair value of the securities is adjusted at inception of the ECC and re-evaluated at each reporting period thereafter. In all of these instances, we have substantial liquidity risk related to these holdings, and we may not be able to sell, or sell quickly, all or part of these equity interests.

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In connection with future ECCs, we may, from time to time, receive from collaborators, both public and private, warrants, rights and/or options, all of which involve special risks. To the extent we receive warrants or options in connection with future ECCs, we would be exposed to risks involving pricing differences between the market value of underlying securities and our exercise price for the warrants or options, a possible lack of liquidity and the related inability to close a warrant or options position, all of which could ultimately have an adverse effect.

We rely on our collaborators and other third parties to deliver timely and accurate information in order to accurately report our financial results in the time frame and manner required by law.

We need to receive timely, accurate and complete information from a number of third parties in order to accurately report our financial results on a timely basis. We rely on our collaborators to provide us with complete and accurate information regarding revenues, expenses and payments owed to or by us on a timely basis. In addition, we intend to rely on current and future collaborators under our ECCs to provide us with product sales and cost saving information in connection with royalties, if any, owed to us. If the information that we receive is not accurate, our consolidated financial statements may be materially incorrect and may require restatement, and we may not receive the full amount of consideration to which we are entitled under our ECCs. Although we have audit rights with these parties, performing such an audit could be expensive and time consuming and may not be adequate to reveal any discrepancies in a timeframe consistent with our reporting requirements. We own a significant equity position in several of our ECC collaborators, including a majority position in one of our ECC collaborators, AquaBounty Technologies, Inc., or AquaBounty. In March 2013, we began to consolidate the financial statements of AquaBounty into our consolidated financial statements. In the future, we may need to consolidate the financial statements of one or more other collaborators into our consolidated financial statements. Although we have contractual rights to receive information and certifications allowing us to do this, such provisions may not ensure that we receive information that is accurate or timely. As a result, we may have difficulty completing accurate and timely financial disclosures, which could have an adverse effect on our business.

Our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards and certain other tax attributes may be limited.

As of December 31, 2012, we had net operating loss carryforwards of approximately $207.0 million for U.S. federal income tax purposes available to offset future taxable income and U.S. federal and state research and development tax credits of $5.8 million, prior to consideration of annual limitations that may be imposed under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or Section 382. These carryforwards begin to expire in 2022. Our past issuances of stock and mergers and acquisitions have resulted in ownership changes within the meaning of Section 382. As a result, the utilization of portions of our net operating losses may be subject to annual limitations. As of December 31, 2012, approximately $16.4 million of our net operating losses generated prior to 2008 are limited by Section 382 to annual usage limits of approximately $1.5 million. As of December 31, 2012, approximately $14.8 million of net operating losses were inherited via acquisition and are limited based on the value of the target at the time of the transaction. Future changes in stock ownership may also trigger an ownership change and, consequently, a Section 382 limitation.

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Risks related to our technologies and business operations

Ethical, legal and social concerns about synthetic biologically engineered products and processes could limit or prevent the use of products or processes using our technologies and limit our revenues.

Our technologies involve the use of synthetic biologically engineered products or synthetic biological technologies. Public perception about the safety and environmental hazards of, and ethical concerns over, genetically engineered products and processes could influence public acceptance of our technologies, products and processes. If we and our collaborators are not able to overcome the ethical, legal and social concerns relating to synthetic biological engineering, products and processes using our technologies may not be accepted. These concerns could result in increased expenses, regulatory scrutiny, delays or other impediments to our programs or the public acceptance and commercialization of products and processes dependent on our technologies or inventions. The ability of our collaborators to develop and commercialize products, or processes using our technologies could be limited by public attitudes and governmental regulation.

The subject of genetically modified organisms has received negative publicity, which has aroused public debate. This adverse publicity could lead to greater regulation and trade restrictions on imports of genetically altered products. Further, there is a risk that products produced using our technologies could cause adverse health effects or other adverse events, which could also lead to negative publicity.

The synthetic biological technologies that we develop may have significantly enhanced characteristics compared to those found in naturally occurring organisms, enzymes or microbes. While we produce our synthetic biological technologies only for use in a controlled laboratory and industrial environment, the release of such synthetic biological technologies into uncontrolled environments could have unintended consequences. Any adverse effect resulting from such a release could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition, and we may have exposure to liability for any resulting harm.

We may become subject to increasing regulation in the future.

Our ongoing research and development relies on evaluations in animals, which may become subject to bans or additional regulations, and, as described above, our research operations are subject to various environmental regulations. However, most of the laws and regulations concerning synthetic biology relate to the end products produced using synthetic biology, but that may change. For example, the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues in December 2010 recommended that the federal government oversee, but not regulate, synthetic biology research. The Presidential Commission also recommended that the government lead an ongoing review of developments in the synthetic biology field and that the government conduct a reasonable risk assessment before the field release of synthetic organisms. Synthetic biology may become subject to additional government regulations as a result of the recommendations, which could require us to incur significant additional capital and operating expenditures and other costs in complying with these laws and regulations.

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To date, no commercial products have been enabled by our technologies and even if our technologies prove to be effective, they still may not lead to commercially viable products.

To date, none of our collaborators has received marketing approval or has commercialized any products enabled by our technologies. There is no guarantee that we or our collaborators will be successful in creating products enabled by our technologies. Even if our collaborators are successful in using our technologies, they may not be able to commercialize the resulting products or may decide to use other methods competitive with our technologies that do not utilize synthetic biology.

The FDA has not yet approved any gene therapies for use in humans or animals.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, has not yet approved any gene therapies for use in humans or animals. The field of gene therapies is experimental and has not yet proven successful in many clinical trials. Clinical trials with gene therapies have encountered a multitude of significant technical problems in the past, including unintended integration with host DNA leading to serious adverse events, poor levels of protein expression, transient protein expression, viral overload, immune reactions to either viral capsids utilized to deliver DNA, DNA itself, proteins expressed or cells transfected with DNA. There can be no assurance that our development efforts or those of our collaborators will be successful, that we or they will receive the regulatory approvals necessary to initiate clinical trials, where applicable, or that we will ever be able to successfully commercialize a product enabled by our technologies. To the extent that we or our collaborators utilize viral constructs or other systems to deliver gene therapies and the same or similar delivery systems demonstrate unanticipated and/or unacceptable side effects in preclinical or clinical trials conducted by ourselves or others we may be forced to, or elect to, discontinue development of such products.

If we lose key personnel, including key management personnel, or are unable to attract and retain additional personnel, it could delay our product development programs, harm our research and development efforts, and we may be unable to pursue collaborations or develop our own products.

Our business involves complex operations across a variety of markets and requires a management team and employee workforce that is knowledgeable in the many areas in which we operate. The loss of any key members of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer, Randal J. Kirk, our Chief Operating Officer, Krish S. Krishnan, or our Chief Science Officer, Thomas D. Reed, or the failure to attract or retain other key employees who possess the requisite expertise for the conduct of our business, could prevent us from developing and commercializing our products for our target markets and entering into collaborations or licensing arrangements to execute on our business strategy. We currently maintain key man insurance on Dr. Reed in the amount of $25.0 million; however, that coverage would likely be inadequate to compensate for the loss of his services. In addition, the loss of any key scientific staff, or the failure to attract or retain other key scientific employees, could prevent us from developing our technologies for our target markets and entering into collaborations or licensing arrangements to execute on our business strategy. We may not be able to attract or retain qualified employees in the future due to the intense competition for qualified personnel among biotechnology, synthetic biology and other technology-based businesses, or due to the unavailability of personnel with the qualifications or experience necessary for our business. If we are not able to attract and retain the necessary personnel to accomplish our business objectives, we may experience staffing constraints that will adversely affect our ability to meet the demands of our collaborators and customers in a timely

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fashion or to support our internal research and development programs. In particular, our product and process development programs are dependent on our ability to attract and retain highly skilled scientists. Competition for experienced scientists and other technical personnel from numerous companies and academic and other research institutions may limit our ability to attract and retain such personnel on acceptable terms. All of our employees are at-will employees, which means that either the employee or we may terminate their employment at any time.

Our planned activities will require additional expertise in specific industries and areas applicable to the products and processes developed through our technologies or acquired through strategic or other transactions, especially in the end markets that we seek to penetrate. These activities will require the addition of new personnel, and the development of additional expertise by existing personnel. The inability to attract personnel with appropriate skills or to develop the necessary expertise could impair our ability to grow our business.

We may encounter difficulties managing our growth, which could adversely affect our business.

Currently, we are working simultaneously on multiple projects targeting several market sectors, including activities in human therapeutics, protein production, animal sciences, agricultural biotechnology and industrial products. These diversified operations place increased demands on our limited resources and require us to substantially expand the capabilities of our administrative and operational resources and to attract, train, manage and retain qualified management, technicians, scientists and other personnel. As our operations expand domestically and internationally, we will need to continue to manage multiple locations and additional relationships with various customers, collaborators, suppliers and other third parties. Our ability to manage our operations, growth and various projects effectively will require us to make additional investments in our infrastructure to continue to improve our operational, financial and management controls and our reporting systems and procedures and to attract and retain sufficient numbers of talented employees, which we may be unable to do effectively. As a result, we may be unable to manage our expenses in the future, which may negatively impact our gross margins or operating margins in any particular quarter. In addition, we may not be able to successfully improve our management information and control systems, including our internal control over financial reporting, to a level necessary to manage our growth.

Competitors and potential competitors may develop products and technologies that make ours obsolete or garner greater market share than ours.

We do not believe that we have any direct competitors who provide comparable technologies of similar depth and breadth which to the same extent enable the commercialization of products developed using synthetic biology across a broad spectrum of biologically based industries. However, there are companies that have competing technologies for individual pieces of our proprietary suite of complementary technologies. One portion of our proprietary technology related to DNA synthesis and assembly includes the ability to synthesize new DNA. We believe the following companies engage in the manufacture of DNA components: DNA 2.0, Inc., Blue Heron Biotech, LLC and Life Technologies Corporation. Another portion of our proprietary technology includes development of fully human monoclonal antibodies. Our technology utilizes advanced methods of stimulating antibody production in naïve human B-cells in vitro , or in a test tube, and specifically selecting those cells which produce antibodies that can bind a desired target, such as human toxins, tumor cells and microbial pathogens. We believe the following companies engage in the manufacture of human or human-like monoclonal antibodies: AbD SeroTec (a Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. company), Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., XOMA

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Corporation, Genmab US, Inc., MorphoSys AG, NovImmune SA, Société Des Systèmes Biologiques, or BIOTEM, Adimab, LLC, ProMab Biotechnologies, Inc., Abpro, Inc., AIIM Therapeutics, Inc. and Open Monoclonal Technology, Inc.

The synthetic biologics industry and each of the commercial sectors we have targeted are characterized by rapid technological change and extensive competition. Our future success will depend on our ability to maintain a competitive position with respect to technological advances. Academic institutions also are working in this field. Technological development by others may result in our technologies, as well as products developed by our collaborators using our technologies, becoming obsolete.

Our ability to compete successfully will depend on our ability to develop proprietary technologies that can be used by our collaborators to produce products that reach the market in a timely manner and are technologically superior to and/or are less expensive than other products on the market. Certain of our competitors may benefit from local government subsidies and other incentives that are not available to us or our collaborators. As a result, our competitors may be able to develop competing and/or superior technologies and processes, and compete more aggressively and sustain that competition over a longer period of time than we or our collaborators can. As more companies develop new intellectual property in our markets, a competitor could acquire patent or other rights that may limit products using our technologies, which could lead to litigation.

We may be sued for product liability.

Each of our ECCs requires the collaborator to indemnify us for all liability related to products produced pursuant to the ECC and to obtain insurance coverage related to product liability in amounts considered standard for the industry. We believe that these industry-standard coverage amounts range from $15.0 million to $40.0 million in the aggregate. Even so, we may be named in product liability suits relating to products that are produced by our collaborators using our technologies. These claims could be brought by various parties, including other companies who purchase products from our collaborators or by the end users of the products. We cannot guarantee that our collaborators will not breach the indemnity and insurance coverage provisions of the ECCs. Further, insurance coverage is expensive and may be difficult to obtain, and may not be available to us or to our collaborators in the future on acceptable terms, or at all. We cannot assure you that our collaborators will have adequate insurance coverage against potential claims. In addition, although we currently maintain product liability insurance for our technologies in amounts we believe to be commercially reasonable, if the coverage limits of these insurance policies are not adequate, a claim brought against us, whether covered by insurance or not, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. This insurance may not provide adequate coverage against potential losses, and if claims or losses exceed our liability insurance coverage, we may go out of business. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against product liability claims, we may incur substantial liabilities or be required to limit commercialization of our product candidates. Regardless of the merits or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:

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We depend on sophisticated information technology and infrastructure.

We rely on various information systems to manage our operations. These systems are complex and include software that is internally developed, software licensed from third parties and hardware purchased from third parties. These products may contain internal errors or defects, particularly when first introduced or when new versions or enhancements are released. Failure of these systems could have an adverse effect on our business, which in turn may materially adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.

We may incur significant costs complying with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, and failure to comply with these laws and regulations could expose us to significant liabilities.

We use hazardous chemicals and radioactive and biological materials in our business and are subject to a variety of federal, state, local and international laws and regulations governing, among other matters, the use, generation, manufacture, transportation, storage, handling, disposal of, and human exposure to these materials both in the United States and overseas, including regulation by governmental regulatory agencies, such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. We have incurred, and will continue to incur, capital and operating expenditures and other costs in the ordinary course of our business in complying with these laws and regulations.

Risks associated with our ECC business model

If we fail to maintain and successfully manage our existing, or enter into new, ECCs, we may not be able to develop and commercialize our technologies and achieve or sustain profitability.

Our ability to enter into, maintain and manage collaborations in our target markets is fundamental to the success of our business. We currently rely, and intend to rely for the foreseeable future, on our collaborators to develop products enabled by our technologies and then to manufacture, market, distribute and sell these products. We intend to enter into other strategic ECCs to produce, market and sell products enabled by the technologies that we have developed and will continue to develop. However, we may not be successful in entering into ECCs with future strategic collaborators. Any failure to enter into ECCs in our target market sectors on favorable terms could delay or hinder our ability to develop and commercialize our technologies and could increase our costs of development and commercialization.

We have entered into ECCs with strategic collaborators to develop products enabled by our technologies. There can be no guarantee that we can successfully manage these ECCs. Under the

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ECCs, we must use diligent efforts to carry out development activities under the ECC. The exclusivity provisions of the ECCs restrict our ability to commercialize our technologies in the designated field covered by the ECC. In most cases, the collaborator may terminate the ECC with us for any reason upon 90 days’ notice. In all cases, the ECC may be terminated if we fail to exercise diligent efforts or breach, and fail to cure, other provisions of the ECC. In addition, since our efforts to date have focused on a small number of collaborators in certain targeted sectors, our business would be adversely affected if one or more of these collaborators terminate their ECCs, fail to use our technologies or fail to develop commercially viable products enabled by our technologies.

Dependence on ECCs also will subject us to other risks, including:

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If any of these events occur, or if we fail to maintain our ECCs with our collaborators, we may not be able to commercialize our existing and potential technologies, grow our business or generate sufficient revenues to support our operations.

We rely on our collaborators to develop, commercialize and market products, and they may not be successful.

We depend on our collaborators to commercialize the products enabled by our technologies. If our collaborators are not able to successfully develop the products enabled by our technologies, none of our enabled products will become commercially available and we will receive no back-end payments under our ECCs. Because we do not currently and may never possess the resources necessary to independently develop and commercialize all of the potential products that may result from our technologies, our ability to succeed in markets we have currently targeted depends on our ability to enter into ECCs to develop and commercialize potential products. Some of our existing collaborators do not themselves have the resources necessary to commercialize products and they in turn will need to rely on additional sources of financing or third party collaborations. In addition, pursuant to our current ECCs and similar ECCs that we may enter into in the future, we have limited or no control over the amount or timing of resources that any collaborator is able or willing to devote to developing products or collaborative efforts. Any of our collaborators may fail to perform its obligations under the ECC. Our collaborators may breach or terminate their ECCs with us or otherwise fail to conduct their collaborative activities successfully and in a timely manner. If any of these events were to occur, our revenues, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

The sales process for our ECCs may be lengthy and unpredictable, and we may expend substantial funds and management effort with no assurance of successfully entering into new collaborations to commercialize our technologies.

The sales process for our ECCs may be lengthy and unpredictable. Our sales and licensing efforts may require the effective demonstration of the benefits, value, differentiation, validation of our technologies and services and significant education and training of multiple personnel and departments within the potential collaborator’s organization. Though we have made efforts to standardize our ECCs, we may be required to negotiate ECCs containing terms unique to each collaborator, which would lengthen the sales cycle. We may expend substantial funds and management effort with no assurance that we will execute an ECC or otherwise sell our technologies or services. In addition, this lengthy sales cycle makes it more difficult for us to accurately forecast revenue in future periods and may cause revenues and operating results to vary significantly in such periods.

We have entered into a limited number of ECCs to date, and we require collaborators to successfully commercialize the products enabled by our technologies.

Our success depends upon entering into ECCs with a number of collaborators across a broad spectrum of industries. There is a risk that we may not be able to demonstrate the value proposition of our technologies with enough collaborators across enough industries for us to be successful. We intend to pursue additional ECCs, but may be unable to do so on terms satisfactory to us, or at all. Our current ECCs and any new ECCs we are able to enter into in one or more of the markets we have targeted may not be successful. Moreover, because we have limited financial and managerial resources, we will be required to prioritize our application of resources to particular development efforts. Any resources we expend on one or more of these efforts

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could be at the expense of other potentially profitable opportunities. If we focus our efforts and resources on one or more of these markets and they do not lead to commercially viable products, our revenues, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Many of our current collaborators have no experience producing products at the commercial scale needed for the development of their business, and they will not succeed if they cannot effectively commercialize their products.

In addition to developing products using our technologies, our collaborators must demonstrate the ability to utilize our technologies to produce desired products at the commercial scale and on an economically viable basis or they must collaborate with others to do so. The products and processes developed using our technologies may not perform as expected when applied at commercial scale, or our collaborators may encounter operational challenges for which we and they are unable to devise a workable solution. For example, contamination in the production process could decrease process efficiency, create delays and increase our collaborators’ costs. Moreover, under the terms of our ECCs, we limit the ability of our collaborators to partner their programs with third parties. We and our collaborators may not be able to scale up our production in a timely manner, if at all, even if our collaborators successfully complete product development in their laboratories and pilot and demonstration facilities. If this occurs, the ability of our collaborators to commercialize products and processes using our technologies will be adversely affected, and, with respect to any products that are brought to market, our collaborators may not be able to lower the cost of production, which would adversely affect our ability to increase the future profitability of our business.

The markets in which our collaborators are developing products using our technologies are subject to extensive regulation, and we rely on our collaborators to comply with all applicable laws and regulations.

Our technologies are used in products that are subject to extensive regulation by governmental authorities. We depend on our collaborators to comply with these laws and regulations with respect to products they produce using our technologies and we do not independently monitor whether our collaborators comply with applicable laws and regulations. If our collaborators fail to comply with applicable laws and regulations, we are subject to substantial financial and operating risks because we depend on our collaborators to produce the end products enabled by our technologies for sale, and because in many cases we have a substantial equity interest in our collaborators. These regulatory risks are extensive and include the following:

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The markets in which our collaborators are developing products using our technologies are highly competitive.

The markets in which our collaborators are developing products are, and will continue to be, highly competitive, and there can be no assurance that we or our collaborators will be able to compete effectively. There are numerous companies presently in these markets that are developing products that may compete with, and could adversely affect the prices for, any products developed by our collaborators using our technologies. Many of these competitors and potential competitors are well-established companies with significant resources and experience, along with well-developed distribution systems and networks for their products, valuable historical relationships with potential customers and extensive sales and marketing programs for their products. Some of these competitors may use these resources and their market influence to impede the development and/or acceptance of the products developed by our collaborators using our technologies.

We do not believe that we have any direct competitors who provide similar technologies which fully enable the commercialization of products developed using synthetic biology across a broad spectrum of biologically based industries. However, there are companies that have competing technologies for individual pieces of our proprietary suite of complementary technologies. One portion of our proprietary technology related to DNA synthesis and assembly includes the ability to de novo synthesize DNA. The following companies are examples of companies which we believe engage in the manufacture of DNA componentry: DNA 2.0, Inc., Blue Heron Biotech, LLC and Life Technologies Corporation. Another portion of our proprietary technology includes development of fully human monoclonal antibodies. Our technology utilizes advanced methods of stimulating antibody production in naïve human B-cells in vitro ( i.e., “in a test tube”) and specifically selecting those cells which produce antibodies that can bind a desired target ( e.g., human toxins, tumor cells, microbial pathogens). The following companies are examples of companies which we believe engage in the manufacture of human or human-like monoclonal antibodies: AbD SeroTec (a Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. company), Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., XOMA Corporation, Genmab US, Inc., MorphoSys AG, NovImmune SA, Société Des Systèmes Biologiques, or BIOTEM, Adimab, LLC, ProMab Biotechnologies, Inc., Abpro Labs, AIIM Therapeutics and OmniAb.

To the extent that any of our collaborators’ competitors are more successful with respect to any key competitive factor or our collaborators are forced to reduce, or are unable to raise, the price of any products enabled by our technologies in order to remain competitive, our operating

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results and financial condition could be materially adversely affected. Competitive pressure could arise from, among other things, safety and efficacy concerns, limited demand or a significant number of additional competitive products being introduced into a particular market, price reductions by competitors, the ability of competitors to capitalize on their economies of scale, the ability of competitors to produce or otherwise procure products similar or equivalent to those of our collaborators at lower costs and the ability of competitors to access more or newer technology than our collaborators can access (including our own).

Our right to terminate our ECCs is limited.

Generally, we do not have the right to terminate an ECC except in limited circumstances such as the collaborator’s failure to exercise diligent efforts in performing its obligations under the ECC, including its development of products enabled by our technologies, or its breach of a term of the ECC that remains uncured for a specified period of time. Moreover, each of our collaborators receives an exclusive license to use all of our technologies in a designated field, potentially in perpetuity. The collaborators we choose in particular fields may not be in the best position to maximize the value of our technologies in that field, if they are capable of commercializing any products at all. In addition, the scope of the field for a particular ECC may prove to be too broad and result in the failure to maximize the value of our technologies in that field.

Risks related to our intellectual property

Our ability to compete may decline if we do not adequately protect our proprietary technologies or if we lose some of our intellectual property rights through costly litigation or administrative proceedings.

Our success depends in part on our ability to obtain patents and maintain adequate protection of our intellectual property in the United States and abroad for our suite of technologies and resultant products and potential products. We have adopted a strategy of seeking patent protection in the United States and abroad with respect to certain of the technologies used in or relating to our products and processes. We have also in-licensed rights to additional patents and pending patent applications in the United States and abroad. However, some of these in-licensed patents will expire as early as 2014, and some of our own patents will expire as early as 2017. We intend to continue to apply for patents relating to our technologies, methods and products as we deem appropriate.

We have strategic positioning with respect to our key technologies including patent portfolios directed to: our switch technology covering aspects of our gene switches, such as our RheoSwitch Therapeutic System, and gene modulation systems, vectors, cells and organisms containing these switches, and their use; our activator ligand technology covering aspects of our activator ligands and their use; and our cell identification and selection technology covering aspects of our cell identification and selection platform, including our cell purification, isolation, characterization and manipulation technologies. In these portfolios, the issued U.S. patents and applications, if granted, are scheduled to expire from 2017 to 2034. We have also filed counterpart patents and patent applications in other countries, including Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Europe, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Africa and Taiwan. In the future we may file in these or additional jurisdictions as deemed appropriate for the protection of our technologies. In these jurisdictions, the issued patents and patent applications, if granted, are scheduled to expire from 2018 to 2032.

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The enforceability of patents involves complex legal and factual questions and, therefore, the extent of enforceability cannot be guaranteed. Issued patents and patents issuing from pending applications may be challenged, invalidated or circumvented. Moreover, the United States Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, enacted in September 2011, brought significant changes to the U.S. patent system, which include a change to a “first to file” system from a “first to invent” system and changes to the procedures for challenging issued patents and disputing patent applications during the examination process, among other things. The effects of these changes on our patent portfolio and business have yet to be determined, as the final substantive provisions of the America Invents Act took effect on March 16, 2013. The United States Patent and Trademark Office, or the USPTO, only recently finalized the rules relating to these changes and the courts have yet to address the new provisions. These changes could increase the costs and uncertainties surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our patent rights. Additional uncertainty may result from legal precedent handed down by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and United States Supreme Court as they determine legal issues concerning the scope and construction of patent claims and inconsistent interpretation of patent laws by the lower courts. Accordingly, we cannot ensure that any of our pending patent applications will result in issued patents, or even if issued, predict the breadth of the claims upheld in our and other companies’ patents. Given that the degree of future protection for our proprietary rights is uncertain, we cannot ensure that we were the first to invent the inventions covered by our pending patent applications, we were the first to file patent applications for these inventions, the patents we have obtained, particularly certain patents claiming nucleic acids, proteins, or methods, are valid and enforceable, and the proprietary technologies we develop will be patentable.

In addition, unauthorized parties may attempt to copy or otherwise obtain and use our products or technology. Monitoring unauthorized use of our intellectual property is difficult, and we cannot be certain that the steps we have taken will prevent unauthorized use of our technologies, particularly in certain foreign countries where the local laws may not protect our proprietary rights as fully as in the United States. Moreover, third parties could practice our inventions in territories where we do not have patent protection. Such third parties may then try to import into the United States or other territories products, or information leading to potentially competing products, made using our inventions in countries where we do not have patent protection for those inventions. If competitors are able to use our technologies, our ability to compete effectively could be harmed. Moreover, others may independently develop and obtain patents for technologies that are similar to or superior to our technologies. If that happens, we may need to license these technologies, and we may not be able to obtain licenses on reasonable terms, if at all, which could harm our business.

We also rely on trade secrets to protect our technologies, especially in cases when we believe patent protection is not appropriate or obtainable. However, trade secrets are difficult to protect. While we require our employees, academic collaborators, collaborators, consultants and other contractors to enter into confidentiality agreements, we may not be able to adequately protect our trade secrets or other proprietary or licensed information. If we cannot maintain the confidentiality of our proprietary and licensed technologies and other confidential information, our ability and that of our licensor to receive patent protection and our ability to protect valuable information owned or licensed by us may be imperiled. Enforcing a claim that a third-party entity illegally obtained and is using any of our trade secrets is expensive and time consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. Moreover, our competitors may independently develop equivalent knowledge, methods and know-how.

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Litigation or other proceedings or third-party claims of intellectual property infringement could require us to spend significant time and money and could prevent us from commercializing our technologies or impact our stock price.

Our commercial success also depends in part on not infringing patents and proprietary rights of third parties, and not breaching any licenses or other agreements that we have entered into with regard to our technologies, products and business. We cannot ensure that patents have not been issued to third parties that could block our or our collaborators’ ability to obtain patents or to operate as we would like. There may be patents in some countries that, if valid, may block our ability to make, use or sell our products in those countries, or import our products into those countries, if we are unsuccessful in circumventing or acquiring the rights to these patents. There also may be claims in patent applications filed in some countries that, if granted and valid, also may block our ability to commercialize products or processes in these countries if we are unable to circumvent or license them.

The biotechnology industry is characterized by frequent and extensive litigation regarding patents and other intellectual property rights. Many companies have employed intellectual property litigation as a way to gain a competitive advantage. Our involvement in litigation, interferences, opposition proceedings or other intellectual property proceedings inside and outside of the United States, to defend our intellectual property rights or as a result of alleged infringement of the rights of others, may divert management time from focusing on business operations and could cause us to spend significant amounts of money. Some of our competitors may have significantly greater resources and, therefore, they are likely to be better able to sustain the cost of complex patent or intellectual property litigation than we could. The uncertainties associated with litigation could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise the funds necessary to continue our business or to enter into additional collaborations with others. Furthermore, any potential intellectual property litigation also could force us or our collaborators to do one or more of the following:

The patent landscape in the field of synthetic biology is particularly complex. We are aware of U.S. and foreign patents and pending patent applications of third parties that cover various aspects of synthetic biology including patents that some may view as covering aspects of our technologies. In addition, there may be patents and patent applications in the field of which we are not aware. In many cases, the technologies we develop are early-stage technologies and we are and our collaborators are just beginning the process of designing and developing products using these technologies. Although we will seek to avoid pursuing the development of products that may infringe any patent claims that we believe to be valid and enforceable, we and our collaborators may fail to do so. Moreover, given the breadth and number of claims in patents and pending patent applications in the field of synthetic biology and the complexities and uncertainties associated with them, third parties may allege that we or our collaborators are infringing upon patent claims even if we do not believe such claims to be valid and enforceable.

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Although no third party has asserted a claim of infringement against us, others may hold proprietary rights that could prevent products using our technologies from being marketed. Any patent-related legal action against persons who license our technologies, our collaborators or us claiming damages and seeking to enjoin commercial activities relating to products using our technologies or our processes could subject us to potential liability for damages and require our licensor or us to obtain a license to continue to manufacture or market such products or any future product candidates that use our technologies. We cannot predict whether we or our licensor would prevail in any such actions or that any license required under any of these patents would be made available on commercially acceptable terms, if at all. In addition, we cannot be sure that any such products or any future product candidates or processes could be redesigned to avoid infringement, if necessary. Accordingly, an adverse determination in a judicial or administrative proceeding, or the failure to obtain necessary licenses, could prevent our collaborators from developing and commercializing products using our technologies, which could harm our business, financial condition and operating results.

If any of our competitors have filed patent applications or obtained patents that claim inventions also claimed by us, we may have to participate in interference proceedings declared by the USPTO to determine priority of invention and, thus, the right to the patents for these inventions in the United States. These proceedings could result in substantial cost to us even if the outcome is favorable. Even if successful, an interference may result in loss of certain of our important claims.

Any litigation or proceedings could divert our management’s time and efforts. Even unsuccessful claims could result in significant legal fees and other expenses, diversion of management time, and disruption in our business. Uncertainties resulting from initiation and continuation of any patent or related litigation could harm our ability to compete.

Obtaining and maintaining our patent protection depends on compliance with various procedural, document submission, fee payment and other requirements imposed by governmental patent agencies, and our patent protection could be reduced or eliminated for non-compliance with these requirements.

The USPTO and various foreign governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other provisions during the patent process. Given the size of our intellectual property portfolio, compliance with these provisions involves significant time and expense. There are situations in which noncompliance can result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. In such an event, competitors might be able to enter the market earlier than would otherwise have been the case.

If we do not obtain additional protection under the Hatch-Waxman Amendments and similar foreign legislation by extending the patent terms and obtaining data exclusivity for our technologies, our business may be materially harmed.

Depending upon the timing, duration and specifics of FDA marketing approval of products using our technologies, one or more of the U.S. patents we own or license may be eligible for limited patent term restoration under the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, referred to as the Hatch-Waxman Amendments. The Hatch-Waxman Amendments permit a patent restoration term of up to five years as compensation for patent term lost during product development and the FDA regulatory review process. However, we may not be granted an extension because of, for example, failing to apply within applicable deadlines, failing to apply

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prior to expiration of relevant patents or otherwise failing to satisfy applicable requirements. Moreover, the applicable time period or the scope of patent protection afforded could be less than we request. If we are unable to obtain patent term extension or restoration or the term of any such extension is less than we request, our competitors may obtain approval of competing products following our patent expiration, and our ability to generate revenues could be materially adversely affected.

Enforcing our intellectual property rights may be difficult and unpredictable.

If we were to initiate legal proceedings against a third party to enforce a patent claiming one of our technologies, the defendant could counterclaim that our patent is invalid and/or unenforceable or assert that the patent does not cover its manufacturing processes, manufacturing components or products. Proving patent infringement may be difficult, especially where it is possible to manufacture a product by multiple processes. Furthermore, in patent litigation in the United States, defendant counterclaims alleging both invalidity and unenforceability are commonplace. Although we believe that we have conducted our patent prosecution in accordance with the duty of candor and in good faith, the outcome following legal assertions of invalidity and unenforceability during patent litigation is unpredictable. With respect to the validity of our patent rights, we cannot be certain, for example, that there is no invalidating prior art, of which we and the patent examiner were unaware during prosecution. If a defendant were to prevail on a legal assertion of invalidity and/or unenforceability, we would not be able to exclude others from practicing the inventions claimed therein. Such a loss of patent protection could have a material adverse impact on our business. Even if our patent rights are found to be valid and enforceable, patent claims that survive litigation may not cover commercially valuable products or prevent competitors from importing or marketing products similar to our own, or using manufacturing processes or manufacturing components similar to those used to produce the products using our technologies.

Although we believe we have obtained assignments of patent rights from all inventors, if an inventor did not adequately assign their patent rights to us, a third party could obtain a license to the patent from such inventor. This could preclude us from enforcing the patent against such third party.

We may not be able to enforce our intellectual property rights throughout the world.

The laws of some foreign countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. Many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in certain foreign jurisdictions. The legal systems of certain countries, particularly certain developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents and other intellectual property protection, particularly those relating to synthetic biology. This could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our patents or misappropriation of our other intellectual property rights. Proceedings to enforce our patent rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business. Accordingly, our efforts to protect our intellectual property rights in such countries may be inadequate.

If our technologies or products using our technologies are stolen, misappropriated or reverse engineered, others could use the technologies to produce competing technologies or products.

Third parties, including our collaborators, contract manufacturers, contractors and others involved in our business often have access to our technologies. If our technologies, or products

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using our technologies, were stolen, misappropriated or reverse engineered, they could be used by other parties that may be able to reproduce our technologies or products using our technologies for their own commercial gain. If this were to occur, it would be difficult for us to challenge this type of use, especially in countries with limited intellectual property protection.

Confidentiality agreements with employees and others may not adequately prevent disclosures of trade secrets and other proprietary information.

We have taken measures to protect our trade secrets and proprietary information, but these measures may not be effective. We require our new employees and consultants to execute confidentiality agreements upon the commencement of an employment or consulting arrangement with us. These agreements generally require that all confidential information developed by the individual or made known to the individual by us during the course of the individual’s relationship with us be kept confidential and not disclosed to third parties. These agreements also generally provide that inventions conceived by the individual in the course of rendering services to us shall be our exclusive property. Nevertheless, our proprietary information may be disclosed, third parties could reverse engineer our technologies or products using our technologies and others may independently develop substantially equivalent proprietary information and techniques or otherwise gain access to our trade secrets. Costly and time-consuming litigation could be necessary to enforce and determine the scope of our proprietary rights, and failure to obtain or maintain trade secret protection could adversely affect our competitive business position.

Risks related to AquaBounty

Because we own a majority of the issued and outstanding shares of AquaBounty, the following risk factors that are applicable to AquaBounty’s business also apply to us.

AquaBounty will need additional capital.

In order for AquaBounty to execute on its business plan as announced by its management, AquaBounty will have future capital requirements, and we may be asked to invest additional funds in AquaBounty. If we fail to invest these additional funds, we may not retain control over AquaBounty. We have been advised by the management of AquaBounty that as of March 31, 2013, AquaBounty held $5.1 million of cash and cash equivalents and had a working capital balance of $4.8 million and that these amounts will provide adequate funds for AquaBounty’s ongoing operations into the second quarter of 2014. We have no contractual obligation to provide funds to AquaBounty and therefore we do not know whether, or to what extent, we will be required to invest additional funds in AquaBounty.

There is significant uncertainty regarding regulatory approval for AquaBounty’s AquAdvantage ^® Salmon.

As a genetically modified animal for human consumption, AquAdvantage Salmon, or AAS, will require approval from the FDA and regulatory bodies in other countries before it can be sold. To date, there have been significant delays in the regulatory process. There is no guarantee that any approvals granted, if granted, will not be subject to onerous obligations. Any change to AAS or the development of a new product, including pursuant to our ECC, will require AquaBounty to again obtain approval from the FDA and regulatory bodies in other countries.

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The regulatory approval process for commercial introduction of AAS will be based on evidence that the AAS are safe to eat and can be grown under conditions that are environmentally sound. AquaBounty is seeking regulatory approval for AAS under a New Animal Drug Application, or NADA. NADA includes all the study components required for Import Tolerance, or tolerances for unapproved new animal drugs where edible portions of animals imported into the United States may contain residues of such drugs, plus an efficacy study, a target animal safety study and a non-target environmental safety study.

Regulatory approval, under the U.S. Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, requires the submission of studies demonstrating human food safety and consistency in the manufacturing process. From 1995 to 2010 AquaBounty submitted the results of a number of studies on the safety and manufacturing of AAS. AquaBounty completed all major submissions for its NADA for AAS with the FDA in 2010.

In September 2010, the FDA held a public meeting of its Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee to review its findings regarding AAS. The conclusion of the committee was that AAS is indistinguishable from other farmed Atlantic salmon, is safe to eat and does not pose a threat to the environment under its conditions of use. Subsequently, the FDA initiated an environmental assessment in compliance with its obligations under the U.S. National Environmental Policy Act, which requires that all federal agencies consider the possible environmental impacts of any action which they authorize.

On December 26, 2012, the FDA published its environmental assessment for AAS, along with a Finding of No Significant Impact, in the Federal Register, confirming that an approval of the pending NADA would not have an adverse effect on the environment and opened up a 60 day period for public comment. On February 13, 2013, the FDA extended the period for public comment by an additional 60 days and the period expired on April 26, 2013.

As of the date of this registration statement, AquaBounty is awaiting a report of final action by the FDA on the pending NADA. We do not know when the FDA will issue this report.

The loss of AquaBounty broodstock would result in the loss of AquaBounty’s commercial technology.

AquaBounty’s AAS intellectual property resides in the breeding population of live fish, or broodstock, themselves; destruction of AAS broodstocks by whatever means would result in the loss of the commercial technology. Live animals are subject to disease that may, in some cases, prevent or cause delay in the export of fish or eggs to customers. Disease organisms may be present undetected and transferred inadvertently. Such events may cause loss of revenue.

AquaBounty is exposed to exchange rate fluctuation.

As a consequence of the international nature of its business, AquaBounty is exposed to risks associated with changes in foreign currency exchange rates. AquaBounty is based in the United States and presents its financial statements in U.S. dollars and the majority of AquaBounty’s cash resources are held in U.S. dollars or in Canadian dollars. Some of AquaBounty’s future expenses and revenues are expected to be denominated in currencies other than in U.S. dollars. Therefore, movements in exchange rates to translate to foreign currencies may have an impact on AquaBounty’s reported results of operations, financial position and cash flows.

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Risks related to our common stock and this offering

Purchasers in this offering will experience immediate and substantial dilution in the book value of their investment.

The initial public offering price of our common stock is substantially higher than the net tangible book value per share of our common stock. Therefore, if you purchase shares of our common stock in this offering, you will pay a price per share that substantially exceeds our net tangible book value per share after this offering. Based on the assumed initial public offering price of $           per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, you will experience immediate dilution of $           per share, representing the difference between our pro forma net tangible book value per share after giving effect to this offering and the assumed initial public offering price. Purchasers of common stock in this offering will have contributed approximately          percent of the aggregate price paid by all purchasers of our stock but will own only approximately          percent of our common stock outstanding after this offering, excluding any shares of our common stock that they may have acquired prior to this offering. Furthermore, if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option or our previously issued options and warrants to acquire common stock at prices below the assumed initial public offering price are exercised, you will experience further dilution. For a further description of the dilution that you will experience immediately after this offering, see “Dilution” elsewhere in this prospectus.

No public market for our common stock currently exists and an active trading market may not develop or be sustained following this offering.

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our common stock. The initial public offering price for our common stock will be determined through negotiations with the underwriters. This price will not necessarily reflect the price at which investors in the market will be willing to buy and sell our shares following this offering. Although we intend to apply to list our common stock on the New York Stock Exchange, an active trading market for our shares may never develop or, if developed, be maintained following this offering. If an active market for our common stock does not develop or is not maintained, it may be difficult for you to sell shares you purchase in this offering without depressing the market price for the shares or at all. An inactive trading market also may impair our ability to raise capital to continue to fund operations by selling shares and may impair our ability to acquire other companies or technologies by using our shares as consideration. The lack of an active market also may reduce the fair market value of your shares.

We have broad discretion in the use of net proceeds from this offering and may not use them effectively.

Although we currently intend to use the net proceeds from this offering in the manner described in “Use of proceeds” elsewhere in this prospectus, we will have broad discretion in the application of the net proceeds and could spend the proceeds in ways that do not improve our results of operations or enhance the value of our common stock. Our failure to apply these net proceeds effectively could result in financial losses that could have a material adverse effect on our business, cause the price of our common stock to decline and delay the development of our product candidates. Pending their use, we may invest the net proceeds from this offering in a manner that does not produce income or that loses value.

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The price of our shares of common stock is likely to be volatile, and you could lose all or part of your investment.

The trading price of our shares of common stock is likely to be volatile and could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to various factors, some of which are beyond our control, including limited trading volume. In addition to the factors discussed in this “Risk factors” section and elsewhere in this prospectus, these factors include:

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Furthermore, the public equity markets have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect the market prices of equity securities of many companies. These fluctuations often have been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. These broad market and industry fluctuations, as well as general economic, political and market conditions such as recessions, interest rate changes or international currency fluctuations, may negatively impact the market price of our shares of common stock. If the market price of our shares of common stock after this offering does not exceed the initial public offering price, you may not realize any return on your investment in us and may lose some or all of your investment.

We do not anticipate paying cash dividends, and accordingly, shareholders must rely on stock appreciation for any return on their investment.

We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our capital stock. We do not anticipate paying cash dividends in the future and intend to retain all of our future earnings, if any, to finance the operations, development and growth of our business. As a result, only appreciation of the price of our common stock, which may never occur, will provide a return to shareholders. Investors seeking cash dividends should not invest in our common stock.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports, or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research or reports about our business, our share price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our shares of common stock will depend, in part, on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. We do not have any control over these analysts. If no securities or industry analysts commence coverage of us, the trading price for our shares of common stock may be negatively impacted. If we obtain securities or industry analyst coverage and if one or more of the analysts who covers us downgrades our shares of common stock, changes their opinion of our shares or publishes inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our share price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases coverage of us or fails to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our shares of common stock could decrease and we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which could cause our share price and trading volume to decline.

If our executive officers, directors and largest shareholders choose to act together, they may be able to control our management and operations, acting in their own best interests and not necessarily those of other shareholders.

As of May 31, 2013, our executive officers, directors and beneficial holders of five percent or more of our outstanding stock owned approximately 72 percent of our voting stock, including shares subject to outstanding options and warrants, and we expect that upon completion of this offering, the same group will continue to hold at least          percent of our outstanding voting

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stock. As a result, these shareholders, acting together, would be able to significantly influence all matters requiring approval by our shareholders, including the election of directors and the approval of mergers or other business combination transactions, as well as our management and affairs. The interests of this group of shareholders may not always coincide with the interests of other shareholders, and they may act in a manner that advances their best interests and not necessarily those of other shareholders. This concentration of ownership control may:

We have engaged in transactions with companies in which Randal J. Kirk, our Chief Executive Officer, and his affiliates have an interest.

We have engaged in a variety of transactions with companies in which Mr. Kirk and affiliates of Mr. Kirk have an interest. Among these transactions are our ECCs with Genopaver, LLC and Fibrocell Science, Inc., our research collaboration with Biolife Cell Bank, Inc., and our licensing arrangement with Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. We believe that each of these transactions was on terms no less favorable to us than terms we could have obtained from unaffiliated third parties, and each of these transactions was approved by at least a majority of the disinterested members of our board of directors. In addition, subsequent to our consummation of the ECCs with Oragenics, Inc. and Synthetic Biologics, Inc., Mr. Kirk and his affiliates invested in these companies. Furthermore, as we execute on these ECCs going forward, a conflict may arise between our interests and those of Mr. Kirk and his affiliates. It is our intention to ensure that all future transactions, if any, between us and our officers, directors, principal shareholders and their affiliates, are approved by the audit committee or a majority of the independent and disinterested members of the board of directors in accordance with our written related person transaction policy, and are on terms no less favorable to us than those that we could obtain from unaffiliated third parties.

Randal J. Kirk will control approximately         percent of our common stock after completion of this offering and will be able to control or significantly influence corporate actions, which may result in Mr. Kirk taking actions contrary to the desires of our other shareholders.

We have historically been controlled, managed and principally funded by Randal J. Kirk, our Chief Executive Officer, and affiliates of Mr. Kirk. As of May 31, 2013, Mr. Kirk and shareholders affiliated with him beneficially owned approximately 71 percent of our voting stock. Following this offering, Mr. Kirk and his affiliates will control approximately          percent of our common stock. Mr. Kirk will be able to control or significantly influence all matters requiring approval by our shareholders, including the election of directors and the approval of mergers or other business combination transactions. The interests of Mr. Kirk may not always coincide with the interests of other shareholders, and he may take actions that advance his personal interests and are contrary to the desires of our other shareholders.

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A significant portion of our total outstanding shares of common stock is restricted from immediate resale but may be sold into the market in the near future. This could cause the market price of our common stock to drop significantly, even if our business is doing well.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could occur at any time. These sales, or the perception in the market that the holders of a large number of shares of common stock intend to sell shares, could reduce the market price of our common stock. If Mr. Kirk or any of his affiliates were to sell a substantial portion of the shares they hold, it could cause our stock price to decline. Based on shares outstanding as of             , upon completion of this offering, we will have             outstanding shares of common stock, assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option to purchase additional shares. This includes the              shares that we are selling in this offering. As of the date of this prospectus, of the remaining shares, approximately              million shares of common stock will be subject to a 180-day contractual lock-up with the underwriters, and an additional approximately              shares of common stock will be subject to a 180-day contractual lock-up with us.

In addition, as of                     , there were              shares subject to outstanding options that will become eligible for sale in the public market to the extent permitted by any applicable vesting requirements, the lock-up agreements and Rules 144 and 701 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Moreover, after this offering, holders of an aggregate of approximately              shares of our common stock will have rights, subject to some conditions, to require us to file registration statements covering their shares or to include their shares in registration statements that we may file for ourselves or other shareholders.

We also intend to register             shares of common stock that we may issue under our Intrexon Corporation 2013 Omnibus Incentive Plan, or the 2013 Plan, plus the shares of common stock reserved for future grant or issuance under our Intrexon Corporation 2008 Equity Incentive Plan that remain unissued. Once we register these shares, they can be freely sold in the public market upon issuance and once vested, subject to the 180-day lock-up periods under the lock-up agreements described in the “Underwriting” section of this prospectus.

We are subject to anti-takeover provisions in our articles of incorporation and bylaws and under Virginia law that could delay or prevent an acquisition of our Company, even if the acquisition would be beneficial to our shareholders.

Certain provisions of Virginia law, the commonwealth in which we are incorporated, and our articles of incorporation and bylaws could hamper a third party’s acquisition of us, or discourage a third party from attempting to acquire control of us. These provisions include:

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These provisions also could limit the price that certain investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock. In addition, these provisions make it more difficult for our shareholders, should they choose to do so, to remove our board of directors or management. See “Description of capital stock.”

We are an “emerging growth company,” and we cannot be certain if the reduced reporting requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will make our shares of common stock less attractive to investors.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act. For as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, we may take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies, including not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in this prospectus, our periodic reports and proxy statements and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if the market value of our shares of common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $700.0 million as of any June 30 before that time or if we have total annual gross revenue of $1.0 billion or more during any fiscal year before that time, in which cases we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the following December 31, or if we issue more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during any three-year period before that time, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company immediately. We cannot predict if investors will find our shares of common stock less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our shares of common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our shares of common stock and our share price may be more volatile.

Under the JOBS Act, emerging growth companies also can delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. We have irrevocably elected not to avail ourselves of this exemption from new or revised accounting standards and, therefore, will be subject to the same new or revised accounting standards as other public companies that are not emerging growth companies.

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If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud. As a result, shareholders could lose confidence in our financial and other public reporting, which would harm our business and the trading price of our common stock.

Effective internal controls over financial reporting are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and, together with adequate disclosure controls and procedures, are designed to prevent fraud. Any failure to implement required new or improved controls, or difficulties encountered in their implementation could cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. In addition, any testing by us conducted in connection with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or any subsequent testing by our independent registered public accounting firm, may reveal deficiencies in our internal controls over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses or that may require prospective or retroactive changes to our financial statements or identify other areas for further attention or improvement. Inferior internal controls could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our common stock.

The financial reporting obligations of being a public company in the United States are expensive and time consuming, and may place significant additional demands on our management.

Prior to the consummation of this offering, we have not been subject to public company reporting obligations in the United States. The additional obligations of being a public company in the United States require significant additional expenditures and place additional demands on our management, including costs resulting from public company reporting obligations under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the rules and regulations regarding corporate governance practices, including those under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and the listing requirements of the New York Stock Exchange, the exchange on which we intend to apply to list our securities. Our management and other personnel will need to devote a substantial amount of time to ensure that we comply with all of these requirements. Moreover, despite recent reforms made possible by the JOBS Act, the reporting requirements, rules and regulations will increase our legal and financial compliance costs and will make some activities more time-consuming and costly, particularly after we are no longer an “emerging growth company.” Any changes that we make to comply with these obligations may not be sufficient to allow us to satisfy our obligations as a public company on a timely basis, or at all.

We also expect these rules and regulations to make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. These factors also could make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our board of directors, particularly to serve on our audit and compensation committees, or as executive officers.

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Special note regarding forward-looking statements

This prospectus contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, which statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this prospectus regarding our strategy, future events, future operations, future financial position, future revenue, projected costs, prospects, plans, objectives of management and expected market growth are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “predict,” “project,” “would” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements about:

Forward-looking statements may also concern our expectations relating to AquaBounty Technologies, Inc. We caution you that the foregoing list may not contain all of the forward-looking statements made in this prospectus.

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We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in the forward-looking statements we make. We have included important factors in the cautionary statements included in this prospectus, particularly in the “Risk factors” section beginning on page 11, that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements that we make. Our forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, joint ventures or investments that we may make.

You should read this prospectus, the documents that we reference in this prospectus and the documents that we have filed as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

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Use of proceeds

We estimate that the net proceeds from our issuance and sale of             shares of our common stock in this offering will be approximately $           million, assuming an initial public offering price of $           per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. If the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full, we estimate that the net proceeds from this offering will be approximately $           million, after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

A $1.00 increase or decrease in the assumed initial public offering price of $           per share would increase or decrease the net proceeds from this offering by approximately $           million, assuming that the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions. Similarly, each increase or decrease of $1.0 million in the number of shares of common stock offered by us would increase or decrease the net proceeds that we receive from this offering by approximately $           million, assuming the assumed initial public offering price remains the same and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions.

The principal purposes of this offering are to increase our financial flexibility, create a public market for our common stock and facilitate our access to the public equity markets. We currently intend to use the net proceeds from this offering, together with our existing cash resources to fund continued investment in our research and development platforms (including up to approximately $29.0 million to fund our stock purchase commitments in conjunction with our ECC with ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.), further our business development efforts to consummate new ECCs with companies across various end markets, and for working capital and other general corporate purposes.

This expected use of net proceeds from this offering represents our intentions based upon our current plans and business conditions. We have not determined the amounts we may spend on any of the items listed above or the timing of these expenditures. The amounts and timing of our actual use of net proceeds will vary depending on numerous factors, including: our ability to enter into new ECCs and the frequency with which we execute these new ECCs; the timing and amounts of cash received as upfront or milestone payments, reimbursement of our research and development services, and royalties received on sales of products enabled by using our technologies from existing and new ECCs; the status and results of ongoing research and development; and the timing and amount of capital investments we may be obligated to make in affiliated entities, including our $29.0 million stock purchase commitment in ZIOPHARM and any additional investments we elect to make in AquaBounty. As a result, our management will retain broad discretion over the allocation of the net proceeds from this offering. We may find it necessary or advisable to use the net proceeds from this offering for other purposes, and we will have broad discretion in the application of net proceeds. Although we may use a portion of the net proceeds of this offering for the acquisition or licensing, as the case may be, of additional technologies, other assets or businesses, we have no current understandings, agreements or commitments to do so.

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Although it is difficult to predict future liquidity requirements, we believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents and cash expected to be received from our current collaborators will be sufficient to fund our operations for at least the next 12 months.

Pending our use of the net proceeds from this offering, we intend to invest the net proceeds in a variety of capital preservation investments, including short-term, investment-grade, interest-bearing instruments, certificates of deposit and direct or guaranteed obligations of the U.S. government.

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Dividend policy

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our capital stock. We currently intend to retain earnings, if any, to finance the growth and development of our business. We do not expect to pay any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. Payment of future dividends, if any, will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, restrictions contained in current or future financing instruments, provisions of applicable law and other factors the board deems relevant.

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