Twist Bioscience Partners with Serimmune to Identify SARS-CoV-2 Therapeutic Antibody Candidates
Serimmune to map epitopes of current Twist antibodies - Twist to use epitopes to re-screen Twist libraries to identify & evaluate novel candidates
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. and GOLETA, Calif., June 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Twist Bioscience Corporation (Nasdaq: TWST), a company enabling customers to succeed through its offering of high-quality synthetic DNA using its silicon platform, and Serimmune Inc., a leader in understanding the functional antibody repertoire's role in human disease, today announced a collaboration to identify and evaluate SARS-CoV-2 therapeutic antibody candidates from Twist libraries.
The collaboration will evaluate existing Twist antibody candidates that bind with high affinity to either SARS-CoV-2 S1 spike protein or the human ACE2 cellular receptor, using Serimmune's Serum Epitope Repertoire Analysis (SERA) platform, which maps the antigenic targets of antibody repertoires. Epitopes identified in the first phase will then be used to re-screen Twist's proprietary synthetic antibody discovery libraries to identify and evaluate new candidates while at the same time further increasing the specificity of antibody candidates. Twist will be responsible for advancing all antibodies resulting from the collaboration.
"Beginning with our first efforts in January, Serimmune has focused on understanding the role of antibody response in SARS-CoV-2 infection. Having evaluated a diverse set of samples from subjects with diverse symptoms, we are beginning to more fully understand the immunogenic epitopes associated with natural infection," said Noah Nasser, CEO of Serimmune. "Twist's fully human antibody libraries contain a vast and diverse collection of potential therapeutic candidates, and we look forward to providing valuable SARS-CoV-2 epitope information to help them select and advance the most promising candidates to treat this devastating disease."
"We are working feverishly to move our antibody leads through characterization, while at the same time implementing the best tools to optimize the properties of each antibody," said Emily Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Twist Bioscience. "Serimmune's platform will allow us to accelerate our efforts in a targeted and methodical manner to further increase the specificity of our antibodies, continuing our sprint in delivering new therapeutics to treat COVID-19."
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.
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 success of Twist's antibody candidates in preclinical development and Twist's ability to successfully accelerate its efforts to further increase the specificity of its antibodies and to deliver new therapeutics to treat COVID-19, 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.
About Serimmune
Serimmune is a leader in understanding antibody repertoire and is focused on identifying and exploiting the universe of relationships between antibodies and antigens. The company's Serum Epitope Repertoire Analysis (SERA) technology platform applies bacterial display peptide libraries, next generation sequencing, machine learning and custom bioinformatics to reveal the many diverse antigens stimulating immunity. Serimmune's human immunity map is a growing database that can be interrogated to uncover disease information for the development of multiplex diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics. The company was founded in 2014 and is backed by investors such as Illumina Ventures, LabCorp, and Merck. For more information visit www.serimmune.com
SOURCE Serimmune
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