Newly floated Cambridge BioTech company formed in 2007 has over 300 customers including Astra Zeneca.

Floated at 180p.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizon_Discovery

Shares - momentum is with Horizon and further upgrades would not surprise.

Horizon Discovery Selected as Core Facility
RNS
RNS Number : 6956D
Horizon Discovery Group plc
02 February 2015



PRESS RELEASE

2nd February 2015







Horizon Discovery Group Selected as Core Facility by Tri-Institutional Therapeutics Discovery Institute



Two year master services agreement signed with an initial work order for $500,000 to carry out drug combination screening and in vitro assay development



Cambridge, UK, 2nd February 2015: Horizon Discovery Group plc (LSE:HZD) (Horizon), the international life science company supplying research tools and services to organizations engaged in genomics research and the development of personalized medicines, today announced that it has been selected to act as a core facility by the Tri-Institutional Therapeutics Discovery Institute (TDI). As a core facility, Horizon will provide single and combination drug profiling followed by confirmatory secondary assay services to TDI through its discovery research services unit.



Under the agreement, Horizon will receive up to $500,000 for work to be performed during 2015 and 2016, with the option for additional collaboration work orders thereafter.



Horizon will utilize its unique cHTS (combination High Throughput Screening) platform and Chalice™ analytics software to screen and analyze potentially thousands of small-molecule drugs, therapeutic antibodies or proteins in combination to identify synergistic or antagonistic interactions. Horizon will also provide a range of optimized cellular assays as follow-ups to identify drug target activity. The first programs are forecast to start in the second half of 2015.



Dr. Darrin M. Disley, Chief Executive Officer of Horizon Discovery Group plc, commented: "Horizon is thrilled to have been chosen as a core facility to support TDI research programs via application of our innovative drug combination screening platform and assay services. The partnership, which provides access to multiple components of our technology platforms and capabilities, reinforces the value that we can provide our customers from 'sequence to treatment'. We look forward to working with the TDI team and potentially broadening our relationship further in 2016 and 2017."



Dr. Michael Foley, Sanders Director, TDI, said: "The Tri-Institutional Therapeutics Discovery Institute links researchers in basic and clinical science with experts in drug discovery from the biotech and pharmaceutical industries, with the goal of more efficiently translating discoveries into therapies for disease. We are delighted to be partnering with Horizon Discovery Group and look forward to initiating the programs."





ENDS

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


UPDATE - Horizon Discovery boss thrilled with TDI contract

By Philip Whiterow

February 02 2015, 11:47am
Horizon will analyse potentially thousands of small-molecule drugs, therapeutic antibodies or proteins in combination.
Horizon will analyse potentially thousands of small-molecule drugs, therapeutic antibodies or proteins in combination.


-- adds broker comment, share price --

Life sciences group Horizon Discovery (LON:HZD) has won a US$500,000 contract to provide drug profiling facilities to the Tri-Institutional Therapeutics Discovery Institute (TDI).

The TDI links researchers in basic and clinical science with experts in drug discovery from the biotech and pharmaceutical industries.

Horizon will analyse potentially thousands of small-molecule drugs, therapeutic antibodies or proteins in combination to identify synergistic or antagonistic interactions.

The AIM-listed firm will also provide a range of optimized cellular assays as follow-ups to identify drug target activity. The first programs are forecast to start in the second half of 2015.

Darrin Disley, Horizon’s chief executive, said he was thrilled Horixzon had been chosen.

“The partnership, which provides access to multiple components of our technology platforms and capabilities, reinforces the value that we can provide our customers from 'sequence to treatment'.

“We look forward to working with the TDI team and potentially broadening our relationship further in 2016 and 2017."

Panmure Gordon that though small, in the wider scheme of Horizon's overall activities the contract emphasised the continued traction of its unique technology offering. ‘Buy’ says the broker.

Shares rose 4p to 227p.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////



2 Feb Panmure Gordon 247.00 Buy

Who Should Attend?Date:

Tuesday 24th February 2015

Venue:

Novotel Tower Bridge, London EC3N, 10 Pepys Street, London, EC3N 2NR

Event Timings:Sponsored by:

Horizon Discovery primed to take advantage of new era of personalised medicine, says Peel Hunt

By Ian Lyall

February 13 2015, 11:36am
“Horizon is the go-to provider of genetically defined cell and animal models of disease, with significant expertise in combination drug screening that is well aligned with trends in big pharma,” Cuddon said in his note
“Horizon is the go-to provider of genetically defined cell and animal models of disease, with significant expertise in combination drug screening that is well aligned with trends in big pharma,” Cuddon said in his note


The broker Peel Hunt described Horizon Discovery (LON:HZD) as a “long-term buy and hold” as it initiated coverage of the life sciences specialist with a 30-page research note.

Setting a 280p price target, it gave an upbeat assessment of the group’s prospects, suggesting it is primed to take advantage of a fundamental shift in healthcare.

“Horizon Discovery is a sector-leading UK company focused on providing products and services in a new era of personalised – or as President Obama recently described it – precision medicine,” said analyst Dr Paul Cuddon.

“We are particularly attracted to Horizon’s fast-growing products business that benefits from the greater commercial scale provided through recent acquisitions.”

Horizon is a specialist in the cutting-edge arena of gene editing, which allows it to produce a pair of human cell lines identical with the exception of carefully selected mutations.

These cell lines act as a surrogate for a patient in a state of good health versus diseased health and enables drug makers to develop novel medicines that target the specific genetic drivers of a disease and implement shorter, less costly and targeted clinical trials.

Cuddon reckons gene-editing is in a similar position to the antibody industry two decades ago, and he believes it is poised for “similarly rapid growth”.

Drilling down, the analyst said Horizon’s products division has the capacity to treble its revenues by 2017 “given alignment with the rapidly growing clinical sequencing and molecular diagnostics markets”.

“Importantly, the recent acquisition of Haplogen has scaled its catalogue significantly, opening up mass-academic markets with lower-cost cell lines that have the potential to become industry standards,” he added.

At the same time, he said the services business also has “sufficient scale” in pre-clinical services, which are increasingly being outsourced to firms such as Horizon.

He reckons this ‘niche’, as he describes it, is worth US$13bn a year.

“Horizon is the go-to provider of genetically defined cell and animal models of disease, with significant expertise in combination drug screening that is well aligned with trends in big pharma,” Cuddon said in his note.

“Horizon has leveraged this division and its cell lines to secure long term commercial agreements with AstraZeneca and Novartis that offer additional long-term upside.”

The shares, up 56% in the last three months alone, were changing hands at 203p earlier, valuing the business at £179mln.

Thanks for posting dreamcatcher.

18 Feb Panmure Gordon 247.00 Buy

UPDATE - Horizon Discovery and partners land £1.67mln grant

By Ian Lyall

February 18 2015, 1:43pm
Horizon's gene editing platform will be used to manipulate pathways identified that will then be tested by Manchester University to generate proof of concept.
Horizon's gene editing platform will be used to manipulate pathways identified that will then be tested by Manchester University to generate proof of concept.


---ADDS BROKER COMMENT AND SHARE PRICE---

Horizon Discovery (LON:HZD) is part of a group that has been awarded £1.67mln to fund the commercial development of Chinese hamster ovary cell lines.

These are critical tools for manufacturing of high-value biopharmaceuticals and Horizon and its partners aim to create a suite of engineered cell lines containing a range of modifications.

The changes are designed to control and improve metabolic performance of the cells for the production of medicines.

It has teamed up with the Centre for Process Innovation and Professor Alan Dickson from the University of Manchester.

The money, meanwhile, is coming from two sources: the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and Innovate UK.

Horizon's gene editing platform will be used to manipulate pathways identified that will then be tested by Manchester University to generate proof of concept.

The performance of novel genotypes will be assessed in fermentors and scaled-up to 'manufacture-ready' processes at the Centre for Process Innovation and its National Biologics Manufacturing Centre business unit.

"Cell line development through targeted gene editing will be critical in delivering the next generation of biological medicines,” said Brian Burke, Horizon’s business development director.

“This funding award will enable the development of an engineered CHO cell line tool kit that will drive new bioprocessing solutions beyond the term of the project, giving the bioprocessing community a foundation upon which further improvements in cell line systems can be built."

Panmure Gordon said today’s announcement fits extremely well with Horizon’s skill set and strategic aims.

"Typically, we consider Horizon’s customer base in terms of commercial biotech and pharma companies, but today’s announcement should act as a reminder that the company also acts as a crucial partner in the development of technology considered strategically important within the UK biotechnology base," the broker said, as it reiterated its 'buy' recommendation.

N+1 Singer is also a buyer, and said today's announcement is good news for Discovery, as it helps develop this key area of the business.

"The recent business and project wins are creating positive momentum in Horizon Discovery and underpinning our revenue growth assumptions," the broker said.

"Horizon Discovery is still in its rapid growth phase and we believe that there will be further new business announcements over the next year as the company aims to break even in FY2016. We believe that the shares have further to go, and that management are increasingly de-risking the business," it concluded.

Shares in Horizon were down 8p to 212p in mid-afternoon trading.

Horizon Provides Genomic Standards To CRUK
RNS
RNS Number : 1013H
Horizon Discovery Group plc
11 March 2015

PRESS RELEASE

11th March 2015







Horizon Discovery Group plc to Support Cancer Research UK's Stratified Medicine Program



Horizon's Diagnostics division to provide genetically defined, human genomic reference standards



Cambridge, UK, 11th March 2015: Horizon Discovery Group plc (LSE:HZD) (Horizon), a leading provider of research tools to support translational genomics and the development of personalized medicines, today announced that it will be providing genomic Reference Materials to support Phase Two of Cancer Research UK's Stratified Medicine Programme (SMP). Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.



The work will focus on supporting the validation of a Cancer Research UK SMP Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) targeted enrichment panel, using Horizon's HDx human genomic Reference Materials. The NGS project involves multi-gene, multi-aberration tumor analysis and is being run in CPA, GLP and ISO accredited laboratories, with a UK NEQAS (www.ukneqas.org.uk) quality assessment. These Reference Materials will support run-to-run and lab-to-lab longitudinal assessment of performance of the NGS technology.



In Phase Two of the SMP, Cancer Research UK will work with the national Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC) network and national genetic testing laboratories to develop a national screening programme for lung cancer samples in the NHS. Once screened, these results will be used to place patients on the National Lung Matrix Trial, run by the Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit (CRCTU) in Birmingham, and led by Prof. Gary Middleton.



The scope of the project involves Horizon's Diagnostics business unit providing renewable, genetically defined Reference Materials representing a range of genetic aberrations and containing defined allelic mutation frequencies. The Reference Materials developed will enable reliable comparison of assay performance across sequencing platforms, targeted assays and laboratories by providing a common universal reference point.



Many factors contribute to variability in the quality of clinical samples, which is currently a concern within molecular pathology laboratories working towards the clinical application of NGS panels for tumor screening. To address this, Cancer Research UK will use Horizon's precisely defined formalin compromised Reference Standards to assess the performance of Cancer Research UK's-SMP NGS, in order to inform any necessary changes in clinical practice surrounding preparation of FFPE samples for downstream NGS analysis.



Dr Paul Morrill, President, Products, Horizon Discovery, said:"Research programs such as Cancer Research UK's Stratified Medicine Programme form a vital piece of the puzzle in the drive toward personalized, or stratified, medicine as a routine approach for the testing and treatment of cancer. We are delighted to have been chosen to support Cancer Research UK on the delivery of Phase Two of this project."



Dr Ian Walker, Head of Cancer Research UK's stratified medicine programme, commented: "Research into stratified medicine is helping us to understand the genetic changes that drive cancer, and to find out how different cancers respond to treatment. Ensuring accuracy in genetic assessment of tumors is a vital part of this process, and we welcome Horizon's involvement in assisting Cancer Research UK with taking the Stratified Medicine Programme forwards."





ENDS

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/investing/article-2994960/MIDAS-SHARE-TIPS-life-science-group-broaden-Horizon.html

Horizon Discovery named 'Business of the Year' for second time

By Giles Gwinnett

March 18 2015, 2:55pm
Other firms to have won twice include chip designer ARM Holdings (LON:ARM), Domino Printing Sciences (LON:DNO) and consumer electronics firm CSR (LON:CSR).



Horizon Discovery (LON:HZD) has joined a select band of companies who can claim to have won "Business of the Year" at the Business weekly awards.

Having first won the accolade, now in its 25th year, in 2011, Horizon has transformed from a private UK life science business in Cambridge to a publicly-listed international life science group employing more than 230 staff across the UK, Austria and the US.

Other firms to have won twice include chip designer ARM Holdings (LON:ARM), Domino Printing Sciences (LON:DNO) and consumer electronics firm CSR (LON:CSR).

Horizon supplies research tools and services to organisations engaged in genomics research and floated on AIM in March last year, since when it has carried out a series of targeted acquisitions as well as expanding its suite of products and services.

Horizon Discovery Group signs OEM agreement with gene fusion detection specialist

By John Harrington

March 23 2015, 7:52am
The agreement is a further endorsement of the demand in the translational sequencing market for accurate and reliable reference material to validate sample testing, Horizon said.
The agreement is a further endorsement of the demand in the translational sequencing market for accurate and reliable reference material to validate sample testing, Horizon said.


Hyperactive life science research group Horizon Discovery (LON:HZD) has signed another agreement, this time with ArcherDX, specialists in gene fusion detection.

The two companies have signed an original equipment manufacturing (OEM) agreement that will see Horizon’s reference materials supplied as a standalone product alongside ArcherDX’s Archer FusionPlex to aid customer validation of Archer’s anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) fusion assay (testing) kits.

ALK fusions of genetic markers ALK, RET, ROS1, are found in about 3-7% of lung tumours and are an important clinical marker for non-small cell lung cancer.

"The three genes in this particular FusionPlex assay can be oncogenic drivers in lung cancer, which makes them great candidates for targeted therapies," said ArcherDX’s chief executive, Dr Jason Myers.

“The low incidence rates of these mutations make it difficult for laboratories to find renewable sources of controls. By combining HDx Reference Material with the Archer panel, we are able to offer a method to ensure consistency and accuracy," he added.

The FusionPlex ALK fusion tests can run on both Illumina and Ion Torrent next-generation sequencing platforms, a fast-growing market that represented US$2.5 billion in 2014, and Horizon anticipates that the Archer assay will prove to be received well by the market.

"Our agreement with Archer is a recognition of the importance of providing controls alongside a targeted sequencing assay, and as an important OEM agreement is a milestone for Horizon,” said Dr Paul Morrill, president of Products Business at Horizon Discovery.

23 Mar Panmure Gordon 247.00 Buy
23 Mar N+1 Singer 246.00 Buy

Horizon Discovery awarded AMSCI grant
RNS
RNS Number : 3705I
Horizon Discovery Group plc
25 March 2015

RNS RELEASE

25th March 2015







Horizon Discovery Group plc and Partners Awarded up to £6.2M Funding Under Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative



Horizon to receive up to £652,000 to expand bioproduction research



Cambridge, UK, 25 March 2015: Horizon Discovery Group plc (LSE:HZD) (Horizon), the international life science company supplying research tools and services that power genomics research and the development of personalized medicines, announced today that a consortium led by the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) on behalf of UCB Celltech and Lonza Biologics and including Horizon as a full partner, have been awarded £6.2 million as part of the Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative (AMSCI).



The AMSCI program consists of an approximate total £11.3M of costs with approximately £6.2 million in grant funding being delivered by the UK Government Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, Innovate UK and Birmingham City Council, to support the future needs of biologics manufacturing in the UK. Horizon will receive up to £652,000 which will be used to expand research performed in its Bioproduction business.



This initiative will support the future needs of biologics manufacturing and will help develop next-generation production systems so that the most efficacious and cost-effective therapies are made available to patients.



Horizon will use its gene editing and screening expertise to develop a high throughput platform designed to accelerate the development of novel and improved Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cell lines. Horizon will introduce specific genetic changes into these CHO cell lines, allowing better decisions to be made on potential performance improvements for biologic drug manufacturing.



Dr Darrin M. Disley, Chief Executive Officer of Horizon Discovery Group commented: "To be part of this AMSCI initiative and to be recognized by the Government with this grant is an endorsement of our leading capabilities in gene editing and we are grateful for this opportunity."



Dr Paul Morrill, President, Products, Horizon Discovery Group, added:"Horizon, along with UCB and the other consortium partners, recognizes the importance of strengthening the biomanufacturing supply chain in order to deliver the next generation of biological medicines. Enhancing cell line function through gene editing is a critical path activity towards this outcome. This initiative, alongside the recent Industrial Biotechnology Catalyst funding, further reinforces Horizon's reputation as a driver of innovation for biomanufacturing."



ENDS







Notes to Editors



For further information from Horizon Discovery Group plc, please contact:



Consilium Strategic Communications (Financial Media and Investor Relations)

Amber Bielecka / Mary-Jane Elliott / Jessica Hodgson / Matthew Neal

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3709 5701

Email: horizon@consilium-comms.com



Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (NOMAD)

Corporate Finance: Freddy Crossley / Duncan Monteith / Fred Walsh

Broking: Tom Salvesen

Tel: +44 20 7886 2500



Zyme Communications (Trade and Regional Media)

Katie Odgaard

Tel: +44 (0)7787 502 947

Email: katie.odgaard@zymecommunications.com



About Horizon Discovery Group plc www.horizondiscovery.com/

Horizon is a revenue-generating life science company supplying research tools to organizations engaged in genomics research and the development of personalized medicines. Horizon has a diverse and international customer base of over 1,000 organizations across nearly 50 countries, including major pharmaceutical, biotechnology and diagnostic companies as well as leading academic research centers. The Company supplies its products and services into multiple markets, estimated to total in excess of £29 billion by 2015.



Horizon's core capabilities are built around its proprietary translational genomics platform, a high-precision and flexible suite of gene editing tools able to alter almost any endogenous gene sequence of human or mammalian cell-lines. Horizon offers almost 14,000 products, almost all of which are based on the application of gene editing to generate cell lines that accurately model the disease-causing mutations found in genetically based diseases. These 'patients-in-a-test-tube' are being used by customers to identify the effect of individual or compound genetic mutations on drug activity, patient responsiveness, and resistance, which may lead to the successful prediction of which patient sub-groups will respond to currently available and future drug treatments.



In addition, Horizon provides GENASSIST™ CRISPR and rAAV gene editing tools, custom cell line generation services for research and bioproduction applications, quantitative molecular reference standards, in vivo disease models, contract research and custom screening services and custom shRNA development services and off-the-shelf validated shRNA (through Horizon's partner Sirion).

Horizon is headquartered in Cambridge, UK, and is listed on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market under the ticker "HZD", for further information please visit: www.horizondiscovery.com.

About Horizon's Bioproduction business

Horizon Bioproduction, part of Horizon Discovery Group plc, is a leading provider of precision engineered off the shelf and custom CHO cell lines. The CHO Source platform delivers a fully engineered and characterized host cell line, ideally suited to the manufacture of recombinant protein therapeutics.



Protein therapeutics represent a significant share of the top 50 drugs globally and are increasingly present in developmental pipelines. The provision and licensing of bioproduction cells for their manufacture, however, can be cost prohibitive especially for smaller organizations, and are often tied to long-term revenue-based licensing terms. Horizon advocates access to state of the art bioproduction cell lines for companies of all sizes, enabling increased efficiency and decreased production costs for any organization with ambitions in the biotherapeutic marketplace, including small to medium biotechs and CMOs.

Preliminary Results
RNS
RNS Number : 1159K
Horizon Discovery Group plc
14 April 2015





RNS Announcement

14th April 2015



Horizon Discovery Group plc

("Horizon" or "the Company")

Unaudited Preliminary Results for the Year Ended 31 December 2014



- Horizon reports strong maiden full year results since listing on AIM

- Product and services revenues increase by 99%

- Gross margin improved to 55%

- Well positioned for next stage of accelerated growth



Cambridge, UK, 14th April 2015: Horizon Discovery Group plc (LSE:HZD) (Horizon), the international life science company providing research tools and services that power genomics research and the development of personalised medicines, is pleased to announce its unaudited preliminary results for the year ended 31st December 2014.



Financial highlights

· Reported revenue increased by 79% to £11.9m (2013: £6.6m) with revenues from products and services growing by 99%

· Gross margin improvement to 55%, up from 52% at the end of 2013

· Research milestone portfolio increased 32% to approximately £158m (2013: £120m) plus royalties

· Operating loss of £5.3m (2013: £2.9m), before exceptional items of £0.8m, as Horizon invests for scale in line with our stated strategy

· Closing cash and cash equivalents of £18.5m (2013: £4.2m)



Corporate highlights

· Raised £68.6m net of expenses including £37.8m of new money for the Company in an IPO on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange

· Acquisition of CombinatoRx service business and assets from Zalicus Inc. for £4.7m

· Acquisition of Sage Labs Inc. for up to $48m (£29m) comprising up to $16m in cash and up to $32m in new ordinary shares

· Post year-end acquisition of Haplogen Genomics GmbH for an initial consideration of £6m, comprising £3m in cash and £3m in new ordinary shares

· Board strengthened with the appointment of Dr. Susan Galbraith, Susan Searle and Dr. David Smoller

· Strategic licensing of two key pieces of CRISPR gene editing intellectual property from ERS Genomics and the Broad Institute and additional rAAV gene editing intellectual property from Stanford University







Operational highlights

· Number of products grew by 186% to 2,750 (2013: 962) and further enhanced to circa 16,500 since year-end following acquisition of Haplogen Genomics

· Headcount increased to 183 (2013: 74)

· Number of customers increased by 171% to 955 (2013: 353) including 30 of the top 50 pharmaceutical companies

· Horizon Discovery Group offices now open in Boston (USA), St Louis (USA), Boyertown (USA) and Vienna (Austria)



Dr. Darrin Disley, CEO and President, Horizon Discovery Group plc, commented: "Horizon has had another strong year of growth underpinning its position as a leader in the field of genome editing and personalized medicine. Since our listing in March 2014, we have successfully delivered upon our international growth strategy, positioning the Company to offer a full spectrum of products and services that impact academic research, drug discovery and development, biomanufacturing and clinical diagnostics from DNA sequence to patient treatment. A combination of strong organic growth and the key complementary acquisitions of CombinatoRx, SAGE® Labs and Haplogen Genomics mean that Horizon is well positioned to deliver further strong revenue growth in the coming year.

"Looking to 2015, we plan further investments in the scaling of our products and services businesses including the development and implementation of new e-Commerce and ERP systems group-wide that will deliver long term value as we continue on our strong growth trajectory. We will also continue to leverage additional non-organic (milestone) value in our research business over the coming years.



"We remain committed to continuing to deliver our strategy of supplying innovative products, services and research that impact the development of personalised medicines and are excited about our prospects for the future as we continue our strategy to build a world class business."



ENDS

Horizon & Thermo Fisher Scientific Sign Agreement
RNS
RNS Number : 6425K
Horizon Discovery Group plc
20 April 2015

RNS

20 April 2015





Horizon Discovery Group plc and Thermo Fisher Scientific Sign
Supply and Commercialisation Agreement



Cambridge, UK, 20 April 2015: Horizon Discovery Group plc (LSE:HZD) (Horizon), the international life science company supplying research tools and services that power genomics research and the development of personalized medicines, today announced it has signed a supply and commercialisation agreement with Thermo Fisher Scientific, the world leader in serving science.

Under the terms of the agreement, Thermo Fisher will market and distribute Horizon's X-MAN human haploid and diploid isogenic cell line collection and will further offer Horizon's X-MAN haploid cell line generation service to its worldwide customer base.

The X-MAN cell line range represents an extensive bank of genetically defined human cell lines - models that accurately exhibit disease-causing genetics, and have undergone a high degree of validation and quality control. These models help researchers to understand how complex genetic diseases manifest themselves, and can reduce the cost of bringing to market new personalized therapies by streamlining many aspects of drug development, including target identification, target validation, assay development, drug screening, lead optimization and biomarker-driven clinical trial design.

The X-MAN catalogue includes both diploid (cells with two natural copies of each gene) cell lines and haploid (proprietary cells engineered to have only one copy of each gene) cell lines developed using Horizon's proprietary precision (rAAV) and high-throughput (HT-CRISPR) genome-editing technologies. Additionally, Horizon offers rapid and low cost on-demand generation of engineered haploid cell lines that for the first time bring these valuable research tools to the 72,000+ research labs studying the basic and applied function of genes and genetic variation.

All of Horizon's X-MAN cell lines are provided as 'isogenic pairs', meaning that each modified cell is provided with a matched control so that when experiments are performed, researchers can attribute differences in experimental results with confidence to the specific genomic modification, which is difficult to do using historical patient-derived cell lines.

Dr. Paul Morrill, President, Products, Horizon Discovery Group plc, commented: "This strategic agreement underscores the value of Horizon's X-MAN cell line collection and gene editing services, and, in particular, highlights the impact Horizon's haploid models are already having on the research community, following the acquisition of Haplogen Genomics GmbH in January 2015. Under this agreement, Thermo Fisher will market these products to researchers worldwide using its e-commerce and direct sales channels."



"Thermo Fisher is committed to providing researchers around the world with the most advanced technologies designed to help them move scientific research forward," said Lalit Dhir, vice president of Strategy, Portfolio & Business Development at Thermo Fisher Scientific. "Our agreement with Horizon Discovery Group is an example of that commitment to our research customers."



ENDS

20 Apr Panmure Gordon 298.00 Buy

23 Apr Panmure Gordon 298.00 Buy

UPDATE - Horizon Discovery Group signs OEM deal with Transgenomic

By John Harrington

April 23 2015, 2:41pm
Horizon’s advanced reference standards are to be used in Transgenomic’s in vitro DNA mutation enrichment kits.
Horizon’s advanced reference standards are to be used in Transgenomic’s in vitro DNA mutation enrichment kits.


---ADDS BROKER COMMENT AND SHARE PRICE---

Horizon Discovery Group (LON:HZD) is to provide human genomic reference standards to assure quality and performance of NASDAQ-listed Transgenomic’s Multiplexed ICE COLD-PCR kits.

The original equipment manufacturer (OEM) agreement between the AIM-listed life science company and the global biotechnology company follows a collaborative project initiated last year between Horizon’s Diagnostics division and Transgenomic, which explored the utility of Horizon’s advanced reference standards in Transgenomic’s in vitro DNA mutation enrichment kits. The standards are being used in both quality control and mutation concentration assays.

Transgenomic’s MX-ICP technology offers major advantages for users of current sequencing technologies by delivering a sensitivity improvement of at least 100-fold in comparison to standard methodologies and enriching both known and previously unknown genetic alterations using a single multiplexed assay, Horizon’s stock exchange announcement said.

The ultra-high sensitivity of MX-ICP makes it feasible to conduct comprehensive genomic analyses using either tissue biopsies or liquid samples such as blood or urine.

Dr. Paul Morrill, president of Products at Horizon Discovery Group, said: “To see our relationship with Transgenomic expand into a full OEM relationship after our initial collaboration project is a strong endorsement of Horizon’s expertise in this field.

“We are dedicated to ensuring that cutting edge molecular diagnostic assays, such as those developed by Transgenomic, can demonstrate their true clinical significance and performance,” he added.

“This important relationship is part of our forward strategy to drive sustainable core revenue growth as well as take a scientific leadership role in the field of personalized medicine,” Dr Morrill concluded.

Paul Kinnon, Transgenomic’s president and chief executive officer, said: “Incorporating Horizon’s industry-leading controls into our MX-ICP kits supports our global commercialisation campaign by providing customers and partners additional assurance of the exceptional performance of MX-ICP technology.

“Horizon’s highly characterized and quantitative genomic DNA-based reference standards support the high performance of our MX-ICP technology. We expect that they will be especially valuable in clinical applications.”

Panmure Gordon stuck with its earnings forecasts and repeated its ‘buy’ recommendation after the announcement.

“This further underpins our view with respect to Horizon's strategy in diagnostics, emphasising its role as an enabling partner as the healthcare industry continues to place ever-greater emphasis on personalised and precision medicine,” said analyst Dr Mike Mitchell.

Shares in Horizon Discovery were off 5p at 200p in late afternoon trading.