Horizon Discovery Signs Large-Scale License Agreement for its X-MAN Cell Lines in Japan

Horizon Discovery (Horizon), a leading provider of research tools to support translational genomics and the development of personalised medicines, has entered into a large-scale licensing agreement with a Japanese medical university. The agreement covers a limited use label license for academic use of 250 of Horizon’s X-MAN genetically defined, isogenic cell lines, and demonstrates the global recognition of the company’s in vitro disease models.

Horizon’s X-MAN isogenic cell lines accurately model the disease-causing mutations found in patients with cancer, and increasingly other diseases. Horizon creates these cell lines using its precision genome-editing GENESIS platform, consisting of rAAV, ZFN and CRISPR technologies, to engineer specific disease-related mutations. These models help researchers understand how complex genetic diseases manifest themselves in patients, and can reduce the cost of bringing to market new personalised therapies by streamlining many aspects of drug development including target identification, target validation, assay development, drug screening, lead optimisation, and biomarker-driven clinical trial design.

Kam Dhaliwal, VP Sales, Horizon Discovery, commented: “This is a very significant deal for Horizon Discovery, covering a large number of cell lines and representing a large investment by the university. We are delighted that our distribution partnership in Japan with Summit Pharmaceuticals International (SPI) is proving so productive.  Summit has proven to be extremely effective in opening the Japanese market for Horizon and we anticipate further adoption of our products and services in Japan in the future.”

The director of the Translational Research Centre at the university commented: “Horizon’s X-MAN cell lines offer a unique and valuable resource for the study of specific, disease-related mutations. We are look forward to applying the X-MAN technology in our research projects.”