Tag Archives: Horizon Discovery

Nov. 4, 2020—PerkinElmer and Horizon Discovery have reached an agreement in which PerkinElmer will acquire Horizon for about $383 million.

May 2020—Horizon Discovery Group announced its cGMP-compliant CHOsource platform has played a key role in generating a stable cell line for the development of an immunotherapy for autoimmune diseases. Horizon’s Chinese hamster ovary cells delivered high yields of monoclonal antibody for LAG-3 immunotherapy, the company reported in a press statement, enabling Immutep and Batavia Biosciences to reach a milestone in the preclinical development of the compound.

February 2020—Horizon Discovery Group went live with a new website and ecommerce system, horizondiscovery.com. Features of the website are improved navigation, including sophisticated gene-based search capabilities and advanced filtering, an intuitive, streamlined purchasing and quotation system, and comprehensive technical support and educational content.

March 2018—Horizon Discovery launched its EGFR Multiplex cfDNA Reference Standard. The cell line-derived EGFR multiplex cell-free DNA reference standard allows laboratories and assay developers to optimize, validate, and routinely monitor performance of polymerase chain reaction–based tests, next-generation sequencing, and other novel assays designed to detect EGFR mutations from cfDNA.

December 2017—Horizon Discovery’s Dharmacon announced the launch of its CRISPR activation reagent platform, the latest addition to the company’s Edit-R portfolio for CRISPR-Cas9 genome engineering.

August 2017—Horizon Discovery announced progress of its gene and cell therapy platform for contract service and therapeutic applications. The offering will make use of Horizon’s suite of gene editing technologies, including CRISPR and its proprietary rAAV and Transposon technologies, to edit pluripotent stem cells and primary human lymphocytes.

February 2017—Horizon Discovery Group has entered into an original equipment manufacturer agreement with CareDx. Under the terms of the new agreement, Horizon will supply cell-free DNA-based molecular reference standards for inclusion in CareDx’s cfDNA testing workflows for monitoring transplanted organ rejection.

November 2016—Horizon Discovery has entered into a co-development and commercialization agreement with Ventana Medical Systems, a member of the Roche group. The agreement covers the development, manufacture, and commercialization of cell-line derivative materials for use as immunohistochemistry reference standards in cancer tissue diagnostics to support the development and validation of IHC assays.

September 2016—Horizon Discovery Group and the Wistar Institute announced that Horizon has taken an exclusive license to 153 of Wistar’s melanoma patient-derived xenograft models. Horizon’s distribution of the Wistar melanoma PDX collection will allow scientists worldwide to investigate the efficacy and safety of its drugs prior to trials in human populations.

May 2016—Horizon Discovery Group has formed an immuno-oncology joint venture, Avvinity Therapeutics, with Centauri Therapeutics, a U.K.-based biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of novel molecules targeting life-threatening infectious diseases.

May 2016—The ALK-RET-ROS1 targeted formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded RNA Fusion Reference Standards from Horizon are a highly characterized, biologically relevant quality control material to assess the performance of next-generation sequencing, RT-PCR, and RT-qPCR assays aimed at detecting gene fusions.

March 2016—ArcherDX, in partnership with Horizon Discovery Group, launched the Archer SureShot ALK, RET, ROS1 Fusion Control to benchmark greater confidence in gene fusion detection using Archer FusionPlex Panels. The reference control is composed of FFPE curls of homogeneously mixed, precisely defined cell lines that contain EML4-ALK, CCDC6-RET, and SLC34A2-ROS1 fusions.

January 2016—Swift Biosciences will incorporate Horizon Discovery Group’s human genomic reference standards into its new Accel-Amplicon 56G Oncology Panel for use in research and translational applications.

January 2016—Horizon Discovery Group introduced its cell-free DNA (cfDNA) HDx Reference Standards. The reference standards enable researchers to demonstrate the performance of their cfDNA assays by providing a reproducible, consistent, and reliable source of reference material for their development and evaluation.

Horizon Discovery Group and Transgenomic announced a new original equipment manufacturer agreement to incorporate Horizon’s human genomic reference standards, produced by Horizon’s diagnostics division, into Transgenomic’s Multiplexed ICE COLD-PCR (MX-ICP) kits for use in research and clinical applications. Further details of the agreement were not disclosed.

June 2015—Horizon Discovery Group and ArcherDX have signed an original equipment manufacturer agreement in which Horizon’s reference materials will be supplied as a standalone product alongside ArcherDX’s Archer FusionPlex to aid customer validation of its ALK fusion assay kits. The ALK fusion tests can run on both Illumina and Ion Torrent next-generation sequencing platforms.

June 2015—Horizon Discovery Group has signed a supply and commercialization agreement with Thermo Fisher Scientific. 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 the X-MAN haploid cell line generation service to its worldwide customer base.

December 2014—Horizon Discovery Group announced it has agreed to acquire Sage Labs for up to $16 million in cash and up to $32 million through the issue of new ordinary shares. The acquisition of Sage, a provider of next-generation research models, builds on the acquisition of CombinatoRx in July.

July 2014—Horizon Discovery entered into a nonexclusive license agreement with the Broad Institute to access intellectual property related to the CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing system. Under the terms of the agreement, Horizon has rights to use the technology commercially for applications including development of research tools and reagents.

April 2014—Horizon Discovery signed a worldwide distribution agreement with Haplogen in which customers can access, directly from Horizon, Haplogen’s Haploid Gene Trap Mutant Collection of isogenic human cell lines deficient for the expression of single genes. This is the first time Horizon will distribute another company’s products.

April 2014—Horizon Discovery entered into a collaboration agreement with Desktop Genetics for development of a CRISPR design platform. Horizon will use the platform to identify the best guide-RNAs in the human genome for each gene editing task, as part of its GENESIS suite of gene editing technologies.

Horizon Discovery has signed a research service agreement with Blueprint Medicines, a patient-driven oncology company developing highly selective kinase inhibitors for genomically defined cancer subsets. Under the terms of the deal, Horizon will support Blueprint’s New Targets discovery platform by deploying its X-Man isogenic cell lines.

Horizon Discovery has entered into a nonexclusive license agreement with Sigma-Aldrich for use of its CompoZr zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) technology.

Horizon Diagnostics has signed a distribution agreement with Riken Genesis under which Riken will become the sole distributor of HDx’s molecular reference standards in Japan. Riken Genesis offers genomic products and services to a range of research institutions and corporations and is a CAP-accredited laboratory for genome analysis services.

Horizon Discovery was named the most promising company at the Personalized Medicine World Conference 2013. Horizon was chosen from 32 shortlisted companies based on technology, historical performance of the company, and forward business plans.