Seismic Bio Partners With Twist Bioscience for Discovery and Optimization of Antibodies
August 04 2020 - 7:00AM
Business Wire
Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ: TWST), a company enabling
customers to succeed through its offering of high-quality synthetic
DNA using its silicon platform, and Seismic Bio, Inc., an
immuno-oncology company focused on bispecific antibody development,
today announced a partnership for the discovery and optimization of
antibodies to high-value immuno-oncology targets.
“With its advanced Hyperimmune Library series, rapid discovery
cycle and high throughput antibody expression capabilities, Twist
is an ideal partner for accelerating our quest to develop
best-in-class bispecific therapeutic antibodies,” said Shelley
Force Aldred, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Seismic Bio. “Creating
great bispecific antibodies starts with discovering diverse
collections of monoclonal antibodies, so our work with Twist is an
important first step towards developing highly optimized molecules
that will provide hope for patients that have not responded to
standard therapies.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Twist Biopharma, a division of
Twist Bioscience, will use its proprietary Hyperimmune Libraries,
two fully human antibody libraries focused on the heavy chain
complementary determining region 3 (CDR3) loop diversity involved
in antigen recognition, to identify antibodies that bind to the
specified immuno-oncology targets. Seismic Bio will then use these
monoclonal antibodies as building blocks to create robust
bispecific antibody therapeutics. Seismic Bio will pay Twist
technology activity fees as well as milestones for all compounds
discovered through the agreement.
“Seismic Bio brings together some of the brightest minds with a
proven track record in developing multispecific therapeutic
antibodies and a focused business model to address cancer head-on
by interfering at critical points in the immune system cascade,”
said Emily M. Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Twist. “While
COVID-19 has been at the forefront of healthcare over the last six
months, cancer patients continue to need new and safe therapeutic
options. We are thrilled to partner with Seismic Bio to discover
new compounds expeditiously.”
About the Hyperimmune Libraries
Twist Biopharma created two hyperimmune libraries. Antibodies
are made up of four polypeptides, or segments of proteins, two of
which are “heavy” chains and two “light” chains. The original
hyperimmune library contains more than 10 billion fully human
antigen binding fragments (Fabs) with over three million natural
heavy chain CDR3 loops and diversification in the remaining five
CDR loops. The second hyperimmune library is a common light chain
version of the original hyperimmune library. Unprecedented in the
antibody library industry, these libraries require DNA writing
technology that can write over one million oligonucleotides in a
single pool, made possible through Twist Bioscience’s silicon-based
DNA synthesis platform.
About Seismic Bio, Inc.
Seismic Bio, Inc. is an emerging preclinical stage
biopharmaceutical company developing bispecific therapeutic
antibodies that enable controlled activation of the immune system
to fight cancer. The company is committed to advancing the field of
immuno-oncology, with a focus on treating solid tumor types that
fail to respond to immune checkpoint inhibitors. Using cutting-edge
science at the intersection of genomics and immunology, Seismic Bio
is creating best-in-class therapeutic bispecific antibodies that
will provide tuned and targeted stimulation to the immune system,
ensuring broad therapeutic windows. The company is founded and
financed by industry veterans, and it is based in the San Francisco
Bay Area.
About Twist Biopharma
By leveraging our unique ability to manufacture DNA at scale, we
can construct proprietary antibody libraries precisely designed to
match sequences that occur in the human body. This library of
libraries gives our partners an integral and unbiased resource for
antibody therapeutic discovery and optimization. This precise and
rational approach to library fabrication combined with
sophisticated bioinformatics and software expertise expedites
antibody discovery by decreasing risk, increasing speed, and
lowering the failure rate for antibody therapeutic development.
About Twist Bioscience Corporation
Twist Bioscience is a leading and rapidly growing synthetic
biology and genomics company that has developed a disruptive DNA
synthesis platform to industrialize the engineering of biology. The
core of the platform is a proprietary technology that pioneers a
new method of manufacturing synthetic DNA by “writing” DNA on a
silicon chip. Twist is leveraging its unique technology to
manufacture a broad range of synthetic DNA-based products,
including synthetic genes, tools for next-generation sequencing
(NGS) preparation, and antibody libraries for drug discovery and
development. Twist is also pursuing longer-term opportunities in
digital data storage in DNA and biologics drug discovery. Twist
makes products for use across many industries including healthcare,
industrial chemicals, agriculture and academic research.
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Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. All
statements other than statements of historical facts contained
herein, including without limitation, the ability of the
partnership with Seismic Bio to successfully develop best-in-class
bispecific therapeutic antibodies, are forward-looking statements
reflecting the current beliefs and expectations of management made
pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements
involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other important
factors that may cause Twist Bioscience’s actual results,
performance, or achievements to be materially different from any
future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied
by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties
include, among others, the risks and uncertainties of the ability
to attract new customers and retain and grow sales from existing
customers; risks and uncertainties of rapidly changing technologies
and extensive competition in synthetic biology could make the
products Twist Bioscience is developing obsolete or
non-competitive; uncertainties of the retention of a significant
customer; risks of third party claims alleging infringement of
patents and proprietary rights or seeking to invalidate Twist
Bioscience’s patents or proprietary rights; and the risk that Twist
Bioscience’s proprietary rights may be insufficient to protect its
technologies. For a further description of the risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those
expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks
relating to Twist Bioscience’s business in general, see Twist
Bioscience’s risk factors set forth in Twist Bioscience’s Quarterly
Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission on May 13, 2020. Any forward-looking statements
contained in this press release speak only as of the date hereof,
and Twist Bioscience specifically disclaims any obligation to
update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200804005430/en/
Investor Contact: Argot Partners Maeve Conneighton 212-600-1902
maeve@argotpartners.com Media Contact: Angela Bitting
925-202-6211 media@twistbioscience.com
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