Seismic Bio partners with Twist Bioscience for discovery and optimisation of antibodies

Twist Bioscience Corporation, a company enabling customers to succeed through its offering of high-quality synthetic DNA using its silicon platform, and Seismic Bio, an immuno-oncology company focused on bispecific antibody development, announced a partnership for the discovery and optimization of antibodies to high-value immuno-oncology targets.

“With its advanced Hyperimmune Library series, rapid discovery cycle and high throughput antibody expression capabilities, Twist is an ideal partner for accelerating our quest to develop best-in-class bispecific therapeutic antibodies,” said Shelley Force Aldred, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Seismic Bio. “Creating great bispecific antibodies starts with discovering diverse collections of monoclonal antibodies, so our work with Twist is an important first step towards developing highly optimized molecules that will provide hope for patients that have not responded to standard therapies.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Twist Biopharma, a division of Twist Bioscience, will use its proprietary Hyperimmune Libraries, two fully human antibody libraries focused on the heavy chain complementary determining region 3 (CDR3) loop diversity involved in antigen recognition, to identify antibodies that bind to the specified immuno-oncology targets. Seismic Bio will then use these monoclonal antibodies as building blocks to create robust bispecific antibody therapeutics. Seismic Bio will pay Twist technology activity fees as well as milestones for all compounds discovered through the agreement.

“Seismic Bio brings together some of the brightest minds with a proven track record in developing multispecific therapeutic antibodies and a focused business model to address cancer head-on by interfering at critical points in the immune system cascade,” said Emily M. Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Twist. “While COVID-19 has been at the forefront of healthcare over the last six months, cancer patients continue to need new and safe therapeutic options. We are thrilled to partner with Seismic Bio to discover new compounds expeditiously.”