SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — 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.

Follow us on Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | YouTube

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.