Takeda partners with Twist Bioscience to expand biologics discovery capabilities

Twist Bioscience Corporation, a company enabling customers to succeed through its offering of high-quality synthetic DNA using its silicon platform, today announced a partnership with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited for access to proprietary phage display libraries for the discovery, validation and optimization of antibodies in Takeda’s pipeline of biologics for oncology, rare diseases, neuroscience, and gastroenterology.

“Twist’s unique ability to generate robust, diverse and cutting-edge libraries through its proprietary silicon platform together with our deep insight into therapeutic drug discovery and development will help us expand a growing pipeline of targeted biologic candidates,” said Robert Mabry, Head of Global Biologics Research at Takeda.

Under the terms of the agreement, Twist Biopharma, a division of Twist Bioscience, will license to Takeda its “Library of Libraries,” a panel of synthetic antibody phage display libraries derived only from sequences that exist in the human body. Together, the companies will work to discover, validate and optimize new antibody candidates. In return, Takeda will pay Twist annual technology licensing fees, as well as milestones and royalties for all compounds discovered from the Twist phage display libraries.

“We look forward to applying our unique ability to generate robust, diverse and cutting-edge libraries together with Takeda’s deep insight into therapeutic drug discovery and development to truly forge new frontiers in bringing personalized therapies to patients worldwide,” said Emily M. Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Twist Bioscience.

Want more of the latest science news straight to your inbox? Become a SelectScience member for free today>>