Twist Bioscience Enters into Antibody Discovery and Licensing Option Agreement with Bayer of up to $188 Million

By: Twist Bioscience Corporation via Business Wire

October 05, 2023 at 08:00 AM EDT

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 an antibody discovery, option and license agreement with Bayer. Under the terms of the agreement, Twist Biopharma Solutions, a division of Twist Bioscience, will leverage its Library of Libraries to conduct antibody discovery campaigns against targets to be determined by Bayer. Bayer will have the option to license antibodies discovered under the collaboration.

“Our ongoing partnership with Bayer leverages the full suite of our Twist Biopharma Solutions offering of antibody discovery services to identify the best antibodies for Bayer’s specific targets,” said Emily M. Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Twist Bioscience. “By combining the scientific and technical strengths of each organization, and importantly the level of mutual trust built over several years working together, we look forward to identifying and developing new therapies in multiple disease areas to positively impact patients who need it the most.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Twist will receive payments connected with the initiation of research and will be eligible to receive fees associated with research milestones and the exercise of licensing options. The antibody leads discovered under the collaboration that enter clinical development qualify for certain success-based clinical and commercial milestone payments as well as royalties from product sales. In total, Twist is eligible to receive up to $188 million in clinical and commercial milestone payments plus royalties. In return, Bayer receives exclusive rights to license the antibodies for commercialization in all global territories.

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 partners’ 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.

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 statements regarding the potential success of the antibody discovery campaigns, the exercise of licensing options, the achievement of any clinical or commercial milestones, and potential 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 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.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231005485164/en/

Contacts

For Investors:

Angela Bitting

SVP, Corporate Affairs

925-202-6211

abitting@twistbioscience.com

For Media:

Amanda Houlihan

Communications Generalist

774-265-5334

ahoulihan@twistbioscience.com

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Twist Bioscience Enters into Antibody Discovery and Licensing Option Agreement with Bayer of up to $188 Million

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