“This collaboration with Twist moves us closer to our vision of becoming a fully global healthcare company while also continuing to drive novel therapies in South Korea through the expansion of our pipeline,” said Hongseok Ban, Ph.D. of Ildong Pharmaceutical. “Access to a selection of Twist’s VHH libraries will enable us to complete discovery efforts to select antibody candidates for development as novel immuno-oncology therapies.”

“We believe our VHH libraries are extremely versatile in their applications developing novel and next generation therapies. Because they are significantly smaller than a traditional human antibody, they can be combined with other technologies, or used on their own for development of effective therapies,” said Emily M. Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Twist Bioscience. “This VHH library licensing agreement with Ildong is our first collaboration with a South Korea-based company and broadens our presence in the Asia-Pacific region.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Ildong will license a suite of Twist’s VHH libraries for a period of three years and will use the libraries to conduct research and development activities. Twist will receive an upfront payment, annual maintenance fees and additional payments for success-based clinical and regulatory milestones as well as royalties on product sales.

VHH Antibody Libraries

Antibodies contain two variable domains, the heavy and the light chains. A VHH antibody, also known as a single domain antibody, is the antigen binding domain of the heavy chain, with three complementary determining regions (CDRs), or areas where antigens bind to the antibody. Twist’s VHH libraries use novel methods that combine synthetic and natural approaches to maximize diversity in the 10 billion antibody library, creating high quality VHH libraries for use against any protein target. The small size of the VHH antibodies allow them to access targets that traditional antibodies cannot, with tight binding affinity. The modular nature of VHH antibodies supports creation of bi- or multi-specific antibodies ideal for developing next generation therapies specific to oncology, autoimmune disease and virology.