Twist Bioscience has found a path forward for its COVID-19 antibody program, spinning the project out to form startup Revelar Biotherapeutics and committing to invest up to $10 million in seed funding.
The COVID-19 program grew out of Twist’s work to apply its DNA synthesis platform to the creation of antibody libraries for drug discovery and development. Twist pitches the platform as enabling the customization of every antibody variation and the construction of precise libraries systematically to target entire regions of interest. The platform is complemented by antibody optimization assets.
Twist began applying the technology to COVID-19 in March 2020, leading to the identification of 75 antibodies and the testing of several drug candidates in live SARS-CoV-2. The tests suggested Twist’s immunoglobulin G and single-domain antibodies are at least as effective as candidates derived from former COVID-19 patients. Twist framed the work as a way to put its platform in the spotlight, with a potential licensing deal for the assets viewed as a bonus rather than the reason for the project.
By its own admission, Twist was late to the COVID-19 antibody development race, starting work in late March compared to the early January kickoffs at some groups. But it kept working on the project after the delivery of the validatory data, leading to the optimization of a drug candidate designed to neutralize all known variants of concern.
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Revelar will take the candidate forward. Led by former Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals executive Glenn Marina, Revelar plans to wrap up preclinical and CMC development to support an IND filing. Twist, which is in line to receive milestones that could top $100 million, expects its first antibody to enter the clinic next year.
The timeline raises the risk that Revelar will struggle to carve out a space for the candidate in a world in which many people will have received two, often three, vaccine doses and have access to existing anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and oral antivirals in the event they contract the virus.
Revelar has chances to succeed even if its COVID-19 program flounders. The agreement with Twist gives Revelar the option to license up to five more antibody therapeutics over the next four years in return for additional upfront, milestone and royalty payments.