Horizon Discovery out-licenses cell line engineering technology to US firm

Under the terms of the agreement, Horizon has licensed to the Partner a novel cell line engineering technology as well as non-exclusive rights to Horizon's proprietary Helitron transposon gene editing technology for an undisclosed financial consideration.

The cell line engineering technology will be used to modify a current Horizon biomanufacturing cell line to generate an intermediate, which can easily be further modified through the application of Horizon's proprietary Helitron transposon gene editing technology to introduce specific changes such as the integration of antibody sequences. 

The intermediate cell line will enable rapid development of a wide range of cell lines designed to produce specific antibodies, enabling more cost effective and efficient antibody manufacture in the future for all the Partner's development programmes.

Horizon retains commercial rights to the improved cell line and Helitron transposon technology and will seek additional third-party license agreements for these technologies and others under development to enable cutting edge science and to drive novel workflows that are at the core of our partners' businesses.

Horizon Discovery CEO Darrin M Disley said: "Innovation and leverage of our capabilities, of which both intermediate cell line engineering and transposon technologies are key examples, are important parts of our strategy as we continue to develop novel ways to address the key challenges facing our customers.

“This agreement demonstrates the impact of this approach and the value of licenses to our novel technologies, and we anticipate this becoming a significant additional revenue stream for the Group going forward."