Twist Bioscience and Kriya Sign Agreement to Discover Novel Antibodies for Applications in Oncology Using Gene Therapy

March 9, 2022 |

5 min read

Twist Bioscience Corporation and Kriya Therapeutics, Inc. today announced an antibody discovery agreement for antibodies delivered using adeno-associated viral (AAV) gene therapy in therapeutic oncology applications.

March 9, 2022 13:00 UTC

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. & REDWOOD CITY, 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, and Kriya Therapeutics, Inc., a fully integrated company pioneering novel technologies and therapeutics in gene therapy, today announced an antibody discovery agreement for antibodies delivered using adeno-associated viral (AAV) gene therapy in therapeutic oncology applications.

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“We believe that vectorized antibodies have the potential to transform the treatment of a range of serious diseases, particularly within the field of oncology,” said Shankar Ramaswamy, M.D., Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Kriya. “By combining Twist’s best-in-class antibody libraries and discovery expertise with Kriya’s proprietary, computationally-enabled vector engineering platform, we can accelerate the advancement of novel gene therapies that can be combined with other modalities in oncology, including current standards-of-care.”

Twist Biopharma, a division of Twist Bioscience, expects to leverage its antibody discovery and optimization platform to discover novel antibodies against specific targets of interest that will be engineered into Kriya’s proprietary gene therapy technology platform for durable and targeted delivery.

“Targeted delivery of antibodies using gene therapy could open a new therapeutic channel that enables precise treatment where needed locally,” said Emily M. Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Twist Bioscience. “Viral vectors provide an expedited route to deliver much needed proteins to patients over traditional biologics development. Kriya’s AAV technology is world-leading so we are very pleased to partner with them in this field.”

About Kriya Therapeutics

Kriya is a fully integrated company pioneering novel technologies and therapeutics in gene therapy. The company aims to revolutionize how gene therapies are designed, developed, and manufactured, improving speed to market and delivering significant reductions in cost. Kriya is organized into four principal business units: Kriya Technologies™, Kriya Therapeutics™, Kriya R&D™, and Kriya Manufacturing™. The company is advancing a deep and diversified pipeline of innovative gene therapies in multiple therapeutic area divisions, with current pipeline programs in ophthalmology, oncology, rare disease, and chronic disease. Kriya was founded by pioneers in the biopharmaceutical industry and is backed by leading life sciences and technology investors. The company has core operations in Silicon Valley, California and Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. For more information, please visit www.kriyatx.com and follow on LinkedIn.

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.

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.

Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained herein 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 of Twist Biopharma to leverage its antibody discovery and optimization platform to discover novel antibodies and the ability of Kriya Therapeutics to achieve milestones or develop any products under the agreement. 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.