CDMO collaborates with synthetic DNA provider for biologic drug development
Per the agreement, customers of the contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), LakePharma, will have access to Twist’s antibody discovery and optimization platforms as a service offering.
One of these platforms has the capability to generate therapeutic antibodies against a class of protein drug targets known as G Protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), which have been investigated for the involvement in multiple disease classes such as inflammation, cancer, metabolism, respiratory, and pain.
According to the Twist spokesperson, through the partnership the companies “may be able to expedite discovery and development timelines while beginning with improved antibody therapeutics.”
The spokesperson told us that the company “writes DNA from scratch,” enabling it to create any specific combination and premutation, which cannot be created using traditional random mutagenesis library development as that typically misses large sections or overrepresents others.
Additionally, Twist can synthesize DNA libraries for any given target, a strength that will be leveraged with LakePharma’s integrated discovery and development services.
Twist invested $50m (€44.57m) in April 2018 to advance its silicon-based DNA Synthesis Platform which can be used to support drug discovery, as well as next-generation sequencing for target enrichment and detection of disease-causing genetic variations.
