Horizon Discovery partnership for biologic therapeutics

Biological therapeutics made up seven of the top ten best selling drugs of 2015, and they feature extensively in developmental pipelines. Access to bioproduction cell lines for their manufacture can be cost prohibitive however, and is often restricted in ways that prevent their further optimisation by customers. This stifles innovation and can impede the launch of biological therapeutics due to the challenge of generating bioproduction cell lines that meet the needs of commercial release.

Horizon is using its expertise in genome engineering to improve biological therapeutics manufacturing. As well as developing a tool box of cell lines for the manufacture of a range of current and next generation biological therapeutics, Horizon aims to encourage innovation in other organisations by allowing access to its state of the art bioproduction cell line platform (CHO SOURCE) under flexible licensing terms that include allowing the further modification of cells.

This agreement allows any organisation, through CPI, to access Horizon’s state of the art biomanufacturing cell lines for research purposes, benefiting the global bioprocessing community by allowing access to cutting edge bioproduction cell lines at an early stage of drug or technology development.

Darrin Disley, CEO, Horizon Discovery, commented: ​“Horizon is committed to driving innovation in bioprocessing. We value the opportunity to work with key industry players including CPI, to ensure that we are delivering the best solutions for our customers and ultimately for patients.”  Fergal O’Brien, Director of Biologics, CPI said: ​“By providing their cell line for our research use, Horizon, together with the expertise of CPI, will create a powerhouse platform to develop bioprocessing solutions. We’re excited to see the impact that this program will have.”