Sosei Heptares Enters Antibody Discovery Agreement with Twist Bioscience to Discover and Develop Novel Therapeutic Antibodies against GPCR Targets

• Collaboration aims to combine Twist’s proprietary synthetic antibody libraries and sophisticated bioinformatics expertise with Sosei Heptares’ world-leading StaR® (stabilized receptor) platform to generate novel antibody leads to disease-relevant GPCR targets

TOKYO, Japan and CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom, Dec. 16, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sosei Group Corporation (“the Company”; TSE: 4565), the world leader in GPCR-focused structure-based drug design (SBDD) and development, and Twist Bioscience Corporation (Nasdaq: TWST), a company enabling customers to succeed through its offering of high-quality synthetic DNA using its silicon platform, announced a strategic collaboration to discover therapeutic antibodies against G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) identified by Sosei Heptares.

The collaboration will utilize Sosei Heptares’ fully structurally enabled GPCR target proteins, isolated and stabilized using its proprietary StaR® (stabilized receptor) platform technology.

Twist will leverage its proprietary antibody libraries, including two synthetic GPCR-focused antibody libraries, and apply its sophisticated bioinformatics approaches.

Sosei Heptares will have exclusive, full global rights to develop and commercialize any antibody leads identified and directed to the targets of interest. Twist will be eligible for an upfront payment, ongoing R&D costs and future payments based on the achievement of predefined development milestones. No financial terms are disclosed.

Miles Congreve, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer, Sosei Heptares, said: "We are excited to partner with Twist Biopharma, a division of Twist Bioscience, to combine our world-leading GPCR-focused protein stabilization technologies with Twist’s extensive libraries, as well as innovative discovery and optimization technologies for therapeutic antibodies. GPCRs are implicated in a wide variety of diseases where antibody therapeutics are currently used. As a target class representing up to 30% of current drug targets, very few GPCR-targeting antibodies are approved drugs. This collaboration cements our ambition to enhance our ability to expand and exploit the potential opportunities generated by our GPCR platform, to create promising GPCR-targeting antibody therapeutics for a range of diseases.”

“We are pleased to partner with Sosei Heptares, a recognized leader in the stabilization of GPCR targets,” said Emily M. Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Twist Bioscience. “We believe that by leveraging our target class specific GPCR antibody library along with our discovery and optimization capabilities, we will identify key antibody leads for further development by Sosei Heptares.”

About Sosei Heptares
We are an international biopharmaceutical group focused on the discovery and early development of new medicines originating from our proprietary GPCR-targeted StaR® technology and structure-based drug design platform capabilities. We are advancing a broad and deep pipeline of novel medicines across multiple therapeutic areas, including neurology, immunology, gastroenterology and inflammatory diseases.

We have established partnerships with some of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies and multiple emerging technology companies, including AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Biohaven, Genentech (Roche), GSK, Neurocrine Biosciences, Novartis, Pfizer and Takeda. Sosei Heptares is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan with corporate and R&D facilities in Cambridge, UK.

“Sosei Heptares” is the corporate brand and trademark of Sosei Group Corporation, which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (ticker: 4565). Sosei, Heptares, the logo and StaR® are trademarks of Sosei Group companies.

For more information, please visit https://soseiheptares.com/
LinkedIn: @soseiheptaresco | Twitter: @soseiheptaresco | YouTube: @soseiheptaresco

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 Twist Bioscience: Overview | LinkedIn | Twist Bioscience (@TwistBioscience) / Twitter | Twist Bioscience - YouTube

Enquiries

For Sosei Heptares:

Sosei Heptares – Media and Investor Relations
Hironoshin Nomura, SVP Investor Relations and Corporate Strategy
+81 (0)3 6679 2178 | Hironoshin.Nomura@SoseiHeptares.com

Shinichiro Nishishita, VP Investor Relations, Head of Regulatory Disclosures
+81 (0)3 5210 3399 | IR@SoseiHeptares.com

Citigate Dewe Rogerson (for Japanese Media)
Yas Fukuda
+81 (0)3 4360 9234, Yas.Fukuda@citigatedewerogerson.com

MEDiSTRAVA Consulting (for International Media)
Mark Swallow, David Dible, Eleanor Perkin
+44 (0)20 7638 9571, SoseiHeptares@medistrava.com

For Twist Bioscience:

Twist Bioscience
Angela Bitting
SVP, Corporate Affairs
925-202-6211
abitting@twistbioscience.com

Forward-looking statements for Sosei Heptares
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about the discovery, development and commercialization of products. Various risks may cause Sosei Group Corporation’s actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including: adverse results in clinical development programs; failure to obtain patent protection for inventions; commercial limitations imposed by patents owned or controlled by third parties; dependence upon strategic alliance partners to develop and commercialize products and services; difficulties or delays in obtaining regulatory approvals to market products and services resulting from development efforts; the requirement for substantial funding to conduct research and development and to expand commercialization activities; and product initiatives by competitors. As a result of these factors, prospective investors are cautioned not to rely on any forward-looking statements. We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements for Twist Bioscience
This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained herein, including without limitation Twist’s ability to discover novel therapeutic antibodies against multiple targets and to achieve any of the 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 Annual Report Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 23, 2021 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.