Twist Bioscience and Illumina Partner to Produce Robust Exome Panel to Advance Research

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ: TWST), a company enabling customers to succeed through its offering of high-quality synthetic DNA using its silicon platform, and Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN), a global leader in DNA sequencing and array-based technologies, today announced a partnership to provide expanded customer access to the co-branded Twist Bioscience^® for Illumina^® Exome 2.0 Plus panel designed to advance disease research. The panel can be used on Illumina sequencers.

“This partnership with Twist moves Illumina further along in the mission to transform disease research by offering a panel with best-in-class sequencing preparation,” said Joydeep Goswami, Chief Strategy and Corporate Development Officer and interim Chief Financial Officer of Illumina. “The high uniformity and low off-target rate of the Exome 2.0 Plus panel coupled with superior coverage, make it a market-leading exome panel and we are pleased to be able to offer it to the market alongside Illumina’s products.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Twist will manufacture the Exome 2.0 Plus panel, to be sold by Illumina under the Illumina and Twist brands. The Exome 2.0 Plus panel delivers Twist’s most up-to-date set of protein coding content, disease associated and non-coding variants relevant to research applications. The high uniformity and on-target rate as well as low drop out and duplicate read rates enable Illumina to provide maximal coverage of target sequences with fewer wasted reads. Illumina will offer the Exome 2.0 Plus panel with Illumina’s DNA library preparation reagents (Illumina DNA Prep with Enrichment) as a kitted library prep and exome enrichment solution for research applications.

“Over the past decade, genomics and next generation sequencing have made incredible advancements and Illumina and Twist have both emerged as leaders in the field,” said Emily M. Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Twist Bioscience. “By combining forces, we can offer best-in-class solutions to a broader range of customers, allowing more people to benefit from our detection capabilities.”

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.

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Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained herein, including without limitation, statements regarding the ability of the Exome 2.0 Plus panel to provide maximal coverage of target sequences with fewer wasted reads, are forward-looking statements reflecting the current beliefs and expectations of management made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other important factors that may cause Twist Bioscience’s actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the risks and uncertainties of the ability to attract new customers and retain and grow sales from existing customers; risks and uncertainties of rapidly changing technologies and extensive competition in synthetic biology could make the products Twist Bioscience is developing obsolete or non-competitive; uncertainties of the retention of a significant customer; risks of third-party claims alleging infringement of patents and proprietary rights or seeking to invalidate Twist Bioscience’s patents or proprietary rights; and the risk that Twist Bioscience’s proprietary rights may be insufficient to protect its technologies. For a further description of the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to Twist Bioscience’s business in general, see Twist Bioscience’s risk factors set forth in Twist Bioscience’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 8, 2022 and subsequent filings with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date hereof, and Twist Bioscience specifically disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.