Twist Bioscience Signs Antibody Discovery Collaboration with MediSix Therapeutics to Develop T-cell Therapies

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO--(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 MediSix Therapeutics, a cell therapy company creating novel therapeutics to target T-cell leukemia and lymphoma, today announced a collaboration to discover novel antibodies against five undisclosed targets.

Under the terms of the collaboration, Twist will leverage its proprietary Library of Libraries to discover five novel antibodies directed against MediSix’s targets. MediSix will use its unique platform technologies to develop novel CAR T-cell therapies targeting malignancies and autoimmune diseases without any CAR T-cell fractricide. Twist will receive an upfront payment and will be eligible to receive success-based clinical and regulatory milestone payments, as well as royalties on product sales.

“We believe Twist’s exceptional antibody discovery and optimization platform and extensive libraries, coupled with the company’s ability to move quickly and efficiently, will support our efforts to develop effective immune cell therapies that specifically modulate relevant molecules and combat T-cell malignancies and autoimmune diseases,” said Andrew Bruce, CEO of MediSix Therapeutics. “We look forward to continued work with Twist as we build our pipeline.”

“We look forward to collaborating with MediSix to overcome existing challenges of using cell therapy approaches to treat T-cell malignancies, often because of a lack of antigen targets specific to the cancer. Pairing MediSix’s novel targets with our ability to discover and optimize antibodies to efficiently target these devastating cancers has the potential to add an important and needed therapeutic option for patients,” said Emily M. Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Twist Bioscience. “In addition, with MediSix’s locations in Boston, U.S. and Singapore, this agreement deepens our global footprint and presence in the Asia Pacific region, where certain types of T-cell cancers are more prevalent.”

About MediSix Therapeutics Pte. Ltd.

Renowned expert in cell therapy and the creator of the first anti-CD19 CAR, Professor Dario Campana founded MediSix Therapeutics in 2016 to help patients with B-cell malignancies. Since then, MediSix Therapeutics has developed and leveraged on several unique groundbreaking proprietary technologies to build a pipeline of research products with the aim of overcoming the major challenges in the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases.

Their investors include Temasek Holdings, Lightstone Ventures, Osage University Partners and National University of Singapore.

https://medisixtx.com/

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. The 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 but not limited to the ability of the collaboration to discover novel antibodies against current and future targets and the achievement of any clinical, regulatory or commercial milestones, 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; the retention of employees of acquired companies and the ability of Twist Bioscience to successfully integrate acquired companies and to achieve expected benefits, 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 Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 9, 2022 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.