Horizon Discovery CEO Joins UKTI Delegation to India Led by David Cameron

Horizon Discovery (Horizon), a leading provider of research tools to support the development of personalised medicines, has reported that the company’s CEO Dr Darrin Disley was selected to join the recent UKTI delegation to Prabodhan 2013 in Delhi, India.

The 2-day event saw senior business and political leaders from India and Europe, including the British Prime Minister David Cameron, come together to reflect on the common themes in their political economies, with the aim of identifying ways in which Indian and European leaders can learn from each other’s experience and increase exchange of trade.

Horizon was invited to join the delegation as an exemplar of a UK biotechnology company that is not only leading its field, but is also playing a prominent role in promoting UK innovation on the global stage, with significant commercial success. Horizon is also an example of a UK company that has benefitted from the Government’s award winning legislative programme in the Office for Life Science Strategy. Government funding schemes such as the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) have contributed to Horizon’s success, and the company was the first investment (via DFJ Esprit) of the flagship UK Innovation and Investment Fund (UKIIF).

Horizon is at the cutting edge of providing tools to enable the realization of the personalised healthcare promise, and has already leveraged its technology, products and services to deliver a combination of large multi-national contracts, strategic alliances and direct sales to support translational research throughout academia and the pharmaceutical industry. India is an important potential growth market for the life science sector, and in particular for the personalised medicine field and so is a key strategic focus for the company.

“Being invited to accompany the Prime Minister and his business team to Prabodhan 2013 demonstrates not only the strength of Horizon’s position within the UK life science industry, but also the importance of biotechnology within the wider picture of UK business,” commented Dr Disley. “The opportunity to be on the ground for discussions with major Indian translational cancer research centers, drug discovery partners, and potential distribution partners was invaluable for Horizon, and a big step toward maximising the impact of our technologies and know-how in the global drug discovery arena, to the benefit of patients in all populations.”