London, UK – 18 March 2026 – Touchlight, in collaboration with New England Biolabs (NEB®), announces the launch of the EnClose™ Cell-free dbDNA™ Synthesis Kit, a new benchtop solution enabling rapid enzymatic production of Touchlight’s proprietary doggybone DNA™ (dbDNA™). This linear, covalently closed, double-stranded DNA format offers researchers a fast, cell-free alternative to traditional plasmid DNA, supporting the growing demand for nucleic acid therapeutics.

Traditional plasmid manufacturing remains a critical bottleneck for advanced therapy developers, often requiring complex bacterial fermentation and long lead times. As Ashley Luck, Associate Director of Applications and Development at NEB, explains: “Traditional plasmid DNA manufacturing is a significant bottleneck in Advanced Therapies development, often requiring large-scale fermentation, cell banking, and long lead times that can slow the path to the clinic. We’re thrilled to offer a cell-free alternative that allows researchers to bypass these complex bacterial processes. This kit enables the rapid screening and production of high-purity DNA templates right at the benchtop, cutting months off the development timeline for mRNA vaccines and gene therapies.”

The EnClose kit integrates NEB’s enzymatic expertise with Touchlight’s dbDNA platform, providing a streamlined workflow that allows researchers to generate high yields of closed-ended DNA in a single day. Free from bacterial sequences and antibiotic resistance genes, dbDNA offers advantages in regulatory alignment and safety, while supporting applications such as AAV and lentiviral vector production, nonviral gene therapy, mRNA therapeutics, and gene editing systems. Its enzymatic synthesis also enables the creation of constructs that are challenging to produce in bacterial hosts, including long poly(A) tails and viral inverted terminal repeats.

Dr. Tommy Duncan, Chief Business Officer at Touchlight, highlights the importance of expanding access to dbDNA™: “Collaborating with NEB allows us to significantly broaden the accessibility of our technology, putting it directly and easily into the hands of researchers for the first time. By combining our proprietary dbDNA technology with NEB’s expertise in enzymology, we’ve optimized a workflow that allows scientists to screen constructs and prototype high-throughput designs rapidly, before moving on to larger-scale manufacturing.”

This new kit complements ongoing efforts by both companies to support the rapid progression of RNA and DNA based medicines from research through clinical translation. More information on the EnClose™ Cell-free dbDNA™ Synthesis Kit can be found at www.neb.com/E9301

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

About New England Biolabs:

For over 50 years, New England Biolabs (NEB) has pioneered the discovery and production of innovative products tailored for molecular biology research. Our commitment to scientific discovery is evident in all that we do, including our ever-expanding product portfolio, investment in our basic and applied research program, and support of customers’ research in academia and industry, including cutting-edge technologies for use in molecular diagnostics and nucleic-acid vaccines development. Guided by our founding principles, NEB proactively invests in efforts to improve the well-being of our employees, surrounding communities, as well as the future of our planet. NEB remains a privately held company with global reach, supported by our headquarters in Ipswich, MA, USA, subsidiary offices in 10 countries, and over 60 distribution partners around the world. For more information about New England Biolabs, visit www.neb.com.

NEB® and NEW ENGLAND BIOLABS® are registered trademarks of New England Biolabs, Inc.

ENCLOSE™ is a trademark of New England Biolabs, Inc.

DOGGYBONE™ and dbDNA™ are trademarks of Touchlight Genetics.