Under the revised arrangement implemented on 1 February 2022, both parties benefit from co-exclusive rights to independently supply the Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV) market with doggybone DNA (dbDNA™) through their respective independently owned Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisations (CDMO).

Additionally, AskBio has secured 100 percent ownership of the San Sebastian manufacturing site for its production of research, clinical and commercial AAV dbDNA. It will be operated through the former Touchlight AAV organization, which will be rebranded and operate as TAAV, as part of the restructure. TAAV will retain its right to manufacture AAV dbDNA both for AskBio’s internal product development pipeline as well as continuing to provide AAV dbDNA to third-party customers from their new, recently completed state-of-the-art facility in San Sebastian, Spain.

Through the transaction, Touchlight regains co-exclusive rights to manufacture and sell its proprietary technology, dbDNA for AAV production.

Touchlight DNA Services, the CDMO arm of the Touchlight group, supplies services, development and GMP materials across viral vectors, cell therapy, mRNA and DNA vaccines, which now expands its offering into the AAV market.

Demand for dbDNA has grown rapidly in the last year and the technology promises to revolutionise how genetic medicine is developed and manufactured. As a result of these transactions, both organizations expect continued expansion and significant growth of their provision of dbDNA to the AAV market.

dbDNA is a linear, double stranded, covalently closed DNA molecule which is produced in an enzymatic manufacturing process. It has the potential to enable faster, safer and more scalable DNA production than other traditional methods without contamination of the plasmid DNA backbone.

Financial details of the agreement are not disclosed.

About Touchlight

Touchlight is an innovation-driven leading CDMO pioneering enzymatic GMP DNA production to enable the genetic medicine revolution. As pioneers, with an FDA Drug Master File accepted in 2022 followed in 2025 with the world’s first cell-free DNA GMP license, Touchlight’s enzymatic DNA technology is on the cutting edge of AAV, mRNA, DNA vaccine, and gene editing technology with its state-of-the-art facility recognised by ISPE’s Facility of the Year Awards (FOYA) for Innovation.

With multiple client products already in the clinic, Touchlight’s evidence-based, synthetic DNA manufacturing solutions offer a scalable, sustainable alternative to plasmid DNA (pDNA) for all stages of pre-clinical, clinical and commercial development. The company and technology are built on the conviction that DNA is fundamental to the future of medicine. Traditional methods, based on bacterial fermentation, are slow, costly, and unable to meet the growing demands of genetic medicine due to limited scalability and speed. Founded in 2007, Touchlight’s team is inspired by breakthroughs in genetic medicine, recognising the urgent need for innovative DNA production techniques to support the future of genetic therapies.

For more information please contact:

Karen Fallen, Chief Executive Officer
Verna McErlane, Chief Commercial Officer
E: info@touchlight.com
T: +44 20 8481 9200