Despite record quarterly revenue, Twist Bioscience to cut 25% of workforce

Twist Bioscience Corp., a pioneering synthetic biology company, will reduce 25% of its staff -- or about 270 employees -- to accelerate its path to profitability.

The South San Francisco company's (NASDAQ:TWST) stock lost almost 8% after the announcement on Friday morning. The stock recovered most of its loss, closing down just a nickel or 0.39% on the day to $12.89 a share.

The move comes as several companies in the life sciences industry assess their cash position against the backdrop of a second-year downturn in the industry.

Twist's second quarter revenue was $60 million. The company "writes" synthetic DNA on silicon chips that allow life sciences researchers use synthetic antibodies and genes for drug discovery. The company stated that it had to take "decisive, proactive actions" including job cuts to achieve profitability faster and increase its cash runway.

The company reported that it had $387,7 million in cash and equivalents as well as investments at the end of the third quarter.

Emily Leproust, the co-founder and chief executive officer of Xerox, said that with these changes "we are operating in a stronger position, operating as an organization leaner focused on disruptive opportunities for profitable growth."

Twist's "factory for the future" located in Wilsonville, Oregon south of Portland, shipped its first product in January. This facility produces genes, gene fragments, and oligo-pools, which are clusters of single strands synthetic DNA, often used as the starting point of next-generation sequencing.

With that facility coming online, the company said, it could cut duplicative efforts in South San Francisco, where it will continue to make next-generation-sequencing panels.