{ "docId": "019dd923-622c-750b-8b9a-4b91788fc785", "docSlug": "5fadb686cc03", "documentTitle": "Twist Bioscience (TWST)", "authorId": "58_Scorpion_Capital", "authorName": "Scorpion Capital", "documentKindSlug": "activist-deck", "documentKindLabel": "Activist deck", "sourceTypeSlug": "short_seller", "sourceTypeLabel": "Short seller", "presentationDate": "2022-11-15 00:00:00", "orientation": "landscape", "aspectRatio": 1.2941177, "pageNumber": 88, "pageCount": 236, "prevPage": 87, "nextPage": 89, "slideType": "villain_critique", "function": "name_villain", "density": "dense", "nDataPoints": 0, "notes": "The slide uses expert testimony to frame the technical limitation as a 'fatal flaw' and a business bottleneck.", "elementsJson": [ "paragraph", "quote_block" ], "metadataConfidence": 1, "imagePath": null, "slideHref": "/slides/019dd923-622c-750b-8b9a-4b91788fc785/88", "deckHref": "/decks/019dd923-622c-750b-8b9a-4b91788fc785", "deckJsonHref": "/decks/019dd923-622c-750b-8b9a-4b91788fc785.json", "deckAnchorHref": "/decks/019dd923-622c-750b-8b9a-4b91788fc785#slide-88", "components": [ { "bbox": null, "kind": "callout", "text": "Twist’s fatal flaw is the impossibility of manufacturing DNA strands – oligos, the foundation and building block of its entire product line – without errors and mutations.", "attrs": null, "subkind": null, "toolName": "Visual emphasis", "toolSlug": "visual-emphasis", "confidence": null, "componentId": "019dd953-0932-77cf-bfea-f02db17cf5c0", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.25, "w": 0.9, "x": 0.05, "y": 0.7 }, "kind": "paragraph", "text": "Error-free, “sequence validated” products are extremely expensive to make; take weeks; can’t be delivered without errors even at 15-20 cents per base pair which is multiples of Twist’s pricing. “IDT makes a very low-cost... oligonucleotide. Unfortunately, it’s not sequence-validated... There’s a whole group of companies that are in what’s called the “sequence-validated, one kilobase gene standard vector.” ...Companies like GeneArt, GenScript, and IDT have got a product as well, but they’re at a very high-cost range now because they have to apply a lot of diagnostics... It takes weeks to do that. So, this is a bottleneck in the logistics chain going from an oligonucleotide to a gene and a gene sequence.” –Longtime oligo manufacturing expert; ex-Agilent executive", "attrs": null, "subkind": "paragraph", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "0126385e-864b-469b-b925-aa8769083550", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.35, "w": 0.9, "x": 0.05, "y": 0.35 }, "kind": "paragraph", "text": "Sequence fidelity is an unsolved challenge in the industry; leads to errors, mutations, turnaround time, costs. “The issue at Gen9 was the number of - it’s called fidelity of the oligonucleotide sequence... The pharmaceutical industry doesn’t want a protein drug with lots of sequence errors... so, the two major challenges for the synthetic biology industry that’s producing genes is fidelity, in other words, errors and turnaround time, getting the product to the customer.” –Longtime oligo manufacturing expert; ex-Agilent executive and executive; ex-Agilent", "attrs": null, "subkind": "paragraph", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "52a43b95-361c-4bf4-8a1a-d9fdfe6b9d71", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": null, "kind": "quote", "text": "\"The issue at Gen9 was the number of - it’s called fidelity of the oligonucleotide sequence. The control target was one base pair error per 200... The pharmaceutical industry doesn’t want a protein drug with lots of sequence errors in it because it’s going to give them issues and major problems.\" — Longtime oligo manufacturing expert; ex-Agilent executive and executive; ex-Agilent. \"There’s a whole group of companies that are in what’s called the 'sequence-validated, one kilobase gene standard vector.' ...they’re at a very high-cost range now because they have to apply a lot of diagnostics like next-generation sequencing or mass spectrometry in order to validate the sequence of the oligonucleotide.\" — Longtime oligo manufacturing expert; ex-Agilent executive.", "attrs": null, "subkind": null, "toolName": "Authority citation", "toolSlug": "authority-citation", "confidence": null, "componentId": "019dd953-0932-77cf-bfea-f5c663e09026", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.02, "w": 0.3, "x": 0.05, "y": 0.96 }, "kind": "source-note", "text": "Source: Scorpion Capital consultation calls with experts", "attrs": null, "subkind": null, "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "057c60f5-f194-471a-a570-08b25bbfbe84", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.25, "w": 0.9, "x": 0.05, "y": 0.08 }, "kind": "title", "text": "Twist’s fatal flaw is the impossibility of manufacturing DNA strands – oligos, the foundation and building block of its entire product line – without errors and mutations. Known as “sequence fidelity,” the issue is a long-standing, unsolved challenge in the industry, driving massive problems around re-work, turnaround time, and cost. The dilemma was outlined by a longtime oligo manufacturing expert who worked at Agilent, the Twist CEO’s prior employer, and who was closely involved with Gen9, a DNA synthesis player that was identical to Twist and failed.", "attrs": null, "subkind": "headline", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "e2d37f30-f114-414e-9c6c-a55b2ba89514", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null } ], "metrics": [], "tools": [], "frameworks": [ { "name": "antagonist-introduction", "slug": null, "matchId": "0b6368e9-ef18-438b-985c-2d77e593a92e", "evidence": "The slide frames the technical limitation of 'sequence fidelity' as a 'fatal flaw' and compares the company to a failed predecessor (Gen9).", "confidence": 0.9 } ], "arcBeats": [], "loops": [], "imagePathAlt": null, "thumbSrc": null, "thumbSrcAlt": null, "locked": true }