The relationship is a continuation of a previous collaboration between the two companies. Horizon will share its X-MAN (X-Gene Mutant and Normal) cell lines with Crown to provide in vivo animal services to third parties. Crown will use Horizon’s cell lines to provide animal model development, study execution and business marketing to its clients. These high-quality disease models are crucial for generating ‘first-in-class’ patient-relevant targets while facilitating the development of novel oncology targets and early-stage drug discovery programs within the pharmaceutical industry.
By combining their drug discovery and translational research platforms, Crown Bioscience and Horizon Discovery will help their customers select and advance the highest quality drug candidates to clinical development. Both companies are ideally placed to help bring lead molecules based upon highly validated and novel drug models to clinic. In vitro and in vivo cell lines are available to clients who want to help validate new models and become early adopters, with complete access to new models available at the earliest possible phase.
“We are excited to continue working with Horizon through this new collaboration, and believe that the project will bring us closer to achieving a global leadership position in supporting oncology drug discovery programs. This exclusive agreement confirms Crown Bioscience’s position at the forefront of innovation within the global biotech and pharmaceutical industry,” said Jean-Pierre Wery, President of Crown Bioscience. “This is an important step on our path towards finding new answers to meet the urgent needs of our customers in their fight against cancer.”
“The suite of in vivo models developed with Crown will ideally complement our extensive range of in vitro drug discovery tools and services. We are confident this partnership will yield some exciting results,” commented Darrin Disley, CEO of Horizon Discovery. “This collaboration is further testament to the power and utility of Horizon’s gene editing technology in the creation of high value drug discovery tools.”
The new partnership with Horizon will allow Crown Bioscience to work towards greater insights and better means to evaluate the therapeutic value of compounds and their impact on key physiological functions. The company is committed to invest and expand its leadership in providing novel and unique models in support of the discovery and development of the best oncology drug candidates of the future.
To find out more, please email pr@mail.crownbio.com, call 001 408 986 0103 or visit www.crownbio.com (for Crown Bioscience Inc), or email xman@horizondiscovery.com, call 0044 1223 655 580 or visit www.horizondiscovery.com (for Horizon Discovery Ltd).
Media Contacts
For Crown Bioscience
Sarah Morley
The Scott Partnership
Tel: + 44 1477 539 539
Fax: +44 1477 539 540
E-mail: crown@scottpr.com
For Horizon Discovery
Katie Odgaard
Zyme Communications
Tel: +44 07787 502 947
E-mail: katie.odgaard@zymecommunications.com
About Crown Bioscience Inc.
Founded in 2006, Crown Bioscience is a premier drug discovery and development service company providing cutting-edge translational platforms and cost effective drug discovery solutions for its biotech and pharmaceutical partners in dedicated therapeutic areas: Oncology and Metabolic Disease. Our proprietary HuPrime®, HuKemia®, HuBase™, HuMark™, HuTrials™ and HuSignature™ platforms enable unique lead optimization and translational strategies to deliver superior clinical candidates. Headquartered in Santa Clara California, Crown Bioscience has operations in China (Beijing and Jiangsu Taicang) and the USA (NC) with business offices in Boston, Princeton, RTP, Phoenix, Milan and Shanghai.
For more information, please visit http://www.crownbio.com.
About Horizon Discovery Ltd.
Horizon Discovery Limited (Horizon) is a leading provider of research tools to support translational genomics research and the development of personalized medicines. Using GENESIS™, the Company’s proprietary rAAV gene-editing technology, Horizon is able to alter any endogenous gene sequence of a human or mammalian cell-line quickly, reliably and without introducing unwanted and confounding genotypes and/or phenotypes.
Horizon has applied GENESIS™ to create over 500 X-MAN™ cell lines, the world’s first source of genetically-defined and patient-relevant human cell lines, accurately modeling the disease-causing mutations found in cancer patients. These ‘patients-in-a-test-tube’ are being used by academic and industry leaders to identify the effect of individual or compound genetic mutations on drug activity, patient responsiveness, and resistance, leading to the successful prediction of which patient subgroups will respond to currently-available and future drug treatments. This enables the design of shorter, more focused, and less expensive clinical trials, ultimately providing the tools to identify the ‘right drugs’ for the ‘right patients’ based upon the unique genetic mutations that define their disease.
In addition to the X-MAN™ cell lines, Horizon provides GENESIS™ and X-MAN™ derived products and services, with industrial application in: bio-pharmaceutical process optimization; clinical diagnostic development; drug discovery & development; and the provision of reference standards for genomic-based clinical research platforms.
GENESIS, X-MAN and SyntheTx are registered trademarks of Horizon Discovery Limited.
For more information, please visit http://www.horizondiscovery.com.