Twist Bioscience Enters into Agreement with Ono Pharmaceutical to Discover Novel Antibodies for Autoimmune Diseases

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.–(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, today announced a drug discovery agreement with Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Osaka, Japan; President and CEO: Gyo Sagara; “Ono”) to discover and develop novel antibodies for the treatment of autoimmune diseases.

“Ono has a strong and proven track record in developing antibody candidates in areas of need, including the development of the anti-PD-1 antibody Opdivo, which has had a tremendous impact for patients and researchers,” said Emily M. Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Twist Bioscience. “This collaboration bringing together our antibody discovery expertise with Ono’s experience in drug development has the potential to lead to future breakthrough treatment options for patients with autoimmune diseases.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Twist will utilize the Twist Biopharma Solutions Library of Libraries to conduct research activities to discover novel antibodies against targets identified by Ono. Twist’s Library of Libraries is an expansive collection of synthesized antibody libraries based on naturally occurring sequences that harness innovative structural and developability features to cover a wide range of drug targets. Twist will receive research fees, success-based clinical and regulatory milestones, as well as royalties on product sales. As part of the strategic collaboration, Ono will also utilize the scientific expertise of the Biopharma Solutions team and Twist’s Premium Project Management services to evaluate new targets and generate comprehensive discovery campaigns. Ono will be responsible for the development, manufacturing and commercialization of any products resulting from the collaboration.

“We are actively working to create biologics like antibodies in order to address unmet medical needs for a wide range of diseases including autoimmune diseases. We are very pleased to collaborate with Twist at this time in the area of autoimmune diseases and are confident that their expertise in antibody discovery and their impressive collection of diverse and highly specific antibody libraries will bring us potential functional antibodies,” said Dr. Toichi Takino, Senior Executive Officer / Executive Director, Discovery and Research of Ono. “We believe that this new collaboration will enhance our biologics drug discovery efforts and bring innovative drugs for patients as soon as possible.”

About Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., headquartered in Osaka, is an R&D-oriented pharmaceutical company committed to creating innovative medicines in specific areas. Ono focuses its research on oncology, immunology, neurology and specialty research with high medical needs as priority areas for discovery and development of innovative medicines. For further information, please visit the company’s website at https://www.ono-pharma.com/en.

About Twist Biopharma Solutions (The Biologics Discovery and Optimization Division of Twist Bioscience)

Twist Biopharma Solutions combines high-throughput DNA synthesis technology, deep expertise in antibody engineering and in vivo, in vitro and in silico discovery methods to provide end-to-end antibody discovery solutions across the preclinical continuum and tailored to our partner’s specific needs. By leveraging our unique ability to manufacture DNA at scale, we can construct proprietary antibody libraries with discovery beginning with either in vivo or in vitro diversity. Our 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. Additionally, in vivo discovery approaches including single B cell screening and hybridoma discovery enable parallel paths where multiple technology methods can be leveraged to create a panel of highly diverse antibody leads. Our automated screening and panning processes enable us to identify high affinity leads that our partners can move forward into the clinic. We also offer supporting development capabilities, including IgG conversion, expression, purification, biophysical characterization, and functional characterization.

For more information visit: https://www.twistbioscience.com/products/antibody-discovery/twist-bioscience-and-abveris

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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Twist Bioscience Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained herein, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the potential success of the collaboration and the achievement of any clinical or regulatory milestones or product sales, 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. 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 ability to achieve the expected benefits of Twist Bioscience’s workforce reduction, transition of production to the Factory of the Future and reduced investments in DNA data storage; the ability to attract new customers and retain and grow sales from existing customers; the ability of Twist to achieve sufficient revenue to achieve or maintain positive cash flow from operations or profitability in any given period; risks and uncertainties of rapidly changing technologies and extensive competition in synthetic biology that could make the products Twist Bioscience is developing obsolete or non-competitive; uncertainties of the retention of significant customers; the ability of Twist Bioscience to successfully integrate acquired companies and to achieve expected benefits from acquisitions; supply chain and other disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic or otherwise; 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 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 August 7, 2023 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.

Contacts

For Twist Bioscience:
Angela Bitting

SVP, Corporate Affairs

925-202-6211

[email protected]