Ono Enters into a Drug Discovery Collaboration Agreement with Twist Bioscience to Discover Novel Antibodies for Autoimmune Diseases
Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Osaka, Japan; President and CEO: Gyo Sagara; “Ono”) today announced that it has entered into a drug discovery collaboration agreement with Twist Bioscience Corporation, (South San Francisco, California, USA; CEO and co-founder: Emily M. Leproust; “Twist”), to discover and develop innovative antibodies for autoimmune diseases.
Under the terms of the agreement, Twist will utilize the Twist Biopharma Solutions Library of Libraries to conduct research activities to discover novel antibodies against therapeutic target(s) identified by Ono. Twist’s Library of Libraries is an expansive collection of synthesized antibody libraries based on naturally occurring sequences that harness innovative structural and developability features to cover a wide range of drug targets.
Ono will retain exclusive rights to globally develop, manufacture and commercialize therapeutic antibody drugs generated through the collaboration. Ono will pay to Twist research fees, and success-based clinical and regulatory milestones, as well as tiered royalties based on global net sales.
“We are actively working to create biologics like antibodies in order to address unmet medical needs for a wide range of diseases including autoimmune diseases. We are very pleased to collaborate with Twist this time in the area of autoimmune diseases and are confident that their expertise in antibody discovery and their impressive collection of diverse and highly specific antibody libraries will bring us potential functional antibodies,” said Dr. Toichi Takino, Senior Executive Officer / Executive Director, Discovery and Research of Ono. “We believe that this new collaboration will enhance our biologics drug discovery efforts and bring innovative drugs for patients with autoimmune diseases as soon as possible.”
“Ono has a strong and proven track record in developing antibody candidates in areas of need, including the anti-PD-1 antibody Opdivo, which has had a tremendous impact for patients and researchers,” said Emily M. Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Twist Bioscience. “This collaboration, bringing together our antibody discovery expertise with Ono’s experience in drug development, has the potential to lead to future breakthrough treatment options for patients with autoimmune diseases.”
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.