Agilent Sues Start-Up Twist Bioscience Over Alleged Trade Secrets Theft
February 03 2016 - 9:44PM
Dow Jones News
By Brian Gormley and Patience Haggin
Since 2013 Emily Leproust has raised $133 million in equity for
Twist Bioscience Corp., a startup she formed to tap into rising
demand for genes used to make biopharmaceuticals and other
products. Now her former employer is suing her and Twist for
allegedly stealing trade secrets.
Twist says its semiconductor-based system enables it to
manufacture genes faster and more cheaply than conventional
approaches, which use 96-well plates. Agilent Technologies Inc.,
where Dr. Leproust worked just before launching Twist, alleges that
she built this system through secrets gained at Agilent.
Twist didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
Agilent declined to comment on the pending litigation.
Agilent, which also alleges that she poached its employees, is
suing to prevent Twist from using trade secrets and confidential
information, according to a complaint filed Wednesday in Superior
Court in Santa Clara County.
Companies use genes to engineer microbes to produce molecules
used in drugs, foods, fragrances and other products. Last month,
Twist said it had shipped 65 million base pairs of DNA to some 100
users through its alpha launch program. Twist customers include
venture-backed Ginkgo Bioworks Inc., which agreed last year to buy
100 million base pairs of synthetic DNA from Twist.
With interest in its technology picking up, San Francisco-based
Twist last month raised $61 million in equity and $20 million in
debt ahead of a beta launch planned for this year. Investors
included ARCH Venture Partners, Illumina Inc. and individuals such
as Yuri Milner.
Twist is one of several startups venture firms have funded in
the emerging synthetic-biology field, which promises to enable
development of new products in several industries. Others include
Twist competitor Gen9 Inc., whose investors include Agilent, which
first backed the Cambridge, Mass., startup in April 2013.
Agilent said it hired Dr. Leproust to work on developing the
chemical aspects of the inkjet writer used to synthesize
oligonucleotides, the building blocks of genes. She worked there
from 2000 to 2013, according to the complaint.
By the end of her tenure, she supervised a team of scientists
and engineers responsible for development and implementation of
oligo synthesis and oligo library synthesis technology, the
complaint said. Responding to growing interest in synthetic
biology, Agilent said it planned to expand its ability to provide
customers with fast and affordable access to large quantities of
custom-made genes.
Agilent alleges that Dr. Leproust used her knowledge of Agilent
technology to create Twist, and registered a domain name for the
company in February 2012. Domain registration records from domain
look-up site Who.is confirm that the Web address
TwistBioscience.com was registered on Feb. 4, 2012, to a registrant
Emily Leproust of Twist Bioscience.
In February 2013, while Agilent executives contemplated an
investment in Gen9, Dr. Leproust filed articles of incorporation
for Twist, according to the complaint. The complaint also alleges
that she pitched venture-capital investors on the idea for Twist
before she left Agilent.
In April 2013, Dr. Leproust resigned from Agilent, according to
the complaint. She wiped her company smartphone clean of any data
and removed the smart card upon returning it to Agilent, according
to the complaint. In the next three months, Twist raised nearly $5
million in funding from investors.
Twist filed two provisional patent applications in August 2013,
listing the company's co-founders as the inventors. Agilent alleges
that Twist couldn't have developed the technology described in
these applications over the course of its then-four-month lifespan.
The company filed additional patent applications in 2015.
Agilent alleges in the complaint that Twist's technology
disclosed in its patent applications and presentations to investors
misappropriated Agilent's proprietary technology in violation of
the agreement Dr. Leproust signed upon her hire.
"Twist didn't and couldn't have independently developed the
technology to synthesize oligos at this size and density in its two
years of existence," reads Agilent's complaint.
Agilent also alleges that Dr. Leproust recruited and hired 10
employees from Agilent in violation of her original contract, which
barred her from recruiting Agilent's employees for two years after
she left the company.
"This was a highly orchestrated scheme to misappropriate
Agilent's intellectual property and violate its valuable rights. We
will vigorously protect the company's interests," said Agilent's
lead attorney, Daniel Petrocelli, a partner at law firm O'Melveny
& Myers.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 03, 2016 21:29 ET (02:29 GMT)
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