Kriya forged an antibody discovery agreement with Twist to support the delivery of antibodies with AAV gene therapy in therapeutic oncology applications.
Months after Kriya Therapeutics expanded its adeno-associated virus-mediated gene therapy capabilities with the acquisition of exclusive rights to preclinical assets from Warden Bio, the company has bolstered its position through a partnership with Twist Biopharma.
This morning, Redwood City, California-based Kriya, which was one of BioSpace’s NextGen Bio “Class of 2021” life sciences startups to watch, forged an antibody discovery agreement with Twist that will support the delivery of antibodies with adeno-associated viral (AAV) gene therapy in therapeutic oncology applications. AAVs are non-pathogenic viruses that are used as a delivery vehicle for gene therapies.
Shankar Ramaswamy, co-founder and chief executive officer of Kriya, said the company’s scientific leadership believes that vectorized antibodies have the potential to transform the treatment of a range of serious diseases, particularly those diseases found in oncology.
“By combining Twist’s best-in-class antibody libraries and discovery expertise with Kriya’s proprietary, computationally-enabled vector engineering platform, we can accelerate the advancement of novel gene therapies that can be combined with other modalities in oncology, including current standards-of-care,” Ramaswamy said in a statement.
Emily M. Leproust, CEO and co-founder of Twist Bioscience, concurred with the assessment of Ramaswamy and his team. She said the targeted delivery of antibodies through gene therapy can open a “new therapeutic channel” that enables precise treatment in the tumor.
Viral vectors provide an expedited route to deliver much-needed proteins to patients over traditional biologics development. Kriya’s AAV technology is world-leading, so we are very pleased to partner with them in this field,” Leproust said in a statement.
The companies did not disclose full details of the partnership, including any financial particulars.
For Kriya, the partnership with Twist, a division of Twist Bioscience, comes two months after it secured the Warden Bio preclinical assets for glycogen storage disorders. The acquisition of those assets will serve as the foundation for its rare disease division.
Through its various partnerships, Kriya intends to revolutionize the design and development of gene therapies. The company aims to improve the manufacturing and market for these innovative treatments.
Last year, the company raised $100 million in a Series B financing round to support the development of AAV gene therapies. That built on $80.5 million it raised the previous year in a Series A financing round. The company has a manufacturing facility located in North Carolina. It plans to manufacture its gene therapies for oncology, diabetes, severe obesity, ophthalmology and other indications at the site.
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