Twist Bioscience and Eleven Therapeutics Create Replicon for Development of Antiviral Tools
February 07 2022 - 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 Eleven Therapeutics, a company
leading the AI revolution in nucleic acid therapies, today
announced that they have created a replicon tool that could be used
for studying viral genome replication and antiviral drug screening
as well as vaccine and therapeutic development.
Replicons are synthetic viral RNA molecules that mimic viruses
in their ability to replicate but have been engineered to remove
the portion of the genome that causes harm (infectiousness).
Replicon systems have been successfully used to mimic RNA viruses
including Zika, Dengue, and SARS-CoV-1 to facilitate safe and rapid
development of novel therapeutics.
Through a publication on bioRxiv, the teams demonstrated the
development of a safe and efficient SARS-CoV-2 replicon-generating
engine, empowered by massively parallel DNA synthesis. By
engineering the replicon, the teams retained 97% of the viral
genome but completely eliminated any infectivity properties of
SARS-CoV-2. Researchers can use this replicon to study viral
activity without the need for patient samples or risk of handling
live virus.
“We demonstrated that a viral replicon for SARS-CoV-2 could be
an effective and safe way to study the virus using the Beta
(B.1.351) variant but given the inherent flexibility of the
replicon system, we can readily produce other variants, such as
Delta (B.1.617.2) or Omicron (B.1.1.529),” said Yaniv Erlich, CEO
of Eleven Therapeutics. “We developed this in only three weeks,
showing that both the active ingredient in the commercial antiviral
drug molnupiravir and our proprietary RNAi treatment, which had
already been known to effectively treat other variants of the
SARS-CoV-2 in live virus samples, inhibited the replicon
effectively, confirming therapeutic development applicability for
the replicon.”
“Replicons offer a safe alternative to study viruses and
represent another potentially important tool in fighting
SARS-CoV-2,” commented Emily M. Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder
of Twist Bioscience. “Using the framework we developed, researchers
can quickly establish new assays to develop specific therapeutics
and study variant characteristics. Utilizing automatic monitoring
systems for emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants, synthetic biology can
complement these efforts by enabling rapid prototyping of therapies
or vaccine interventions for future variants of concern.”
Twist Bioscience has formed an institutional biosafety committee
to review and monitor research and development as well as
commercial activities that involve pathogens, biological toxins or
other biohazardous materials.
About Eleven Therapeutics
Eleven Therapeutics ushers in the next generation of RNAi
therapeutics by combining artificial intelligence (AI), massively
parallel functional assays, and combinatorial chemistry. Its
flagship invention features a new modality, dubbed SCSI-RNA™
(single-chassis, small interfering RNA), a fully programmable
molecule, rationally designed to address the delivery, durability,
and efficacy challenges of any disease and biological target of
interest. Founded in 2020 by a group of globally-leading,
interdisciplinary scientists, Eleven Therapeutics brings new RNAi
therapeutics for patients in need by capitalizing on some of the
world’s best pools of talent through its three collaborative
hubs — in Cambridge, UK; Boston, U.S.; and Tel Aviv, Israel. Eleven
is currently focusing its development pipeline on siRNA treatments
for a range of respiratory diseases. To learn more, visit
www.eleventx.com.
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 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 of the replicon tool to
develop specific therapeutics and study variant characteristics.
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 Annual Report Form 10-K
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 23,
2021 and subsequent filings with the SEC. 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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Twist Bioscience Angela Bitting SVP, Corporate Affairs
925-202-6211 abitting@twistbioscience.com
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