Horizon Discovery, Sanyou ink license deal

CAMBRIDGE, U.K. & SHANGHAI—Horizon Discovery Group plc kicked off December with the news that it had granted Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. with two commercial licenses to its cGMP-compliant CHOSOURCE platform. Sanyou intends to leverage the gene-edited Glutamine Synthetase (GS) knockout Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) K1 cell line to develop preclinical antibody drug products and support clinical development and commercialization of Sanyou customers' human biotherapeutic products. In addition, Sanyou will make the platform available through its contract research services.

Dr. David Lang, CEO of Sanyou, said: “Horizon’s CHOSOURCE facilitates the development of stable cell lines for the expression of antibodies and other recombinant proteins, and is recognized in the industry and by regulators for high-yield manufacturing. This robust platform will be key in enabling us to generate stable cell lines for the development of antibody drugs, diagnostic products and cell therapy-related components, and allow us to provide a stronger one-stop solution to our clients with IND-ready projects through our contract research services and pipeline-enriching collaborations.” 

Horizon's CHOSOURCE platform consists of a proprietary gene-edited GS knockout CHO K1 cell line and a dual promoter expression vector, and Horizon notes that the platform is “established as an industry standard for host cell line development, facilitating cell line selection and optimization of costs and production processes. A comprehensive cell line history and a clear intellectual property position ensure freedom to operate in biotherapeutic production. Horizon’s robust CHO GS knockout host cell line provides an optimal expression system with an excellent performance record.”

“Sanyou is a leading biotechnology company with extensive experience in early stage drug discovery, IND filing and clinical trial management. The company has established an integrated innovative antibody drug R&D laboratory and we are pleased CHOSOURCE has been selected to support its biotherapeutic pipeline and contract research services offering,” Jesús Zurdo, Global Head Bioproduction Business Unit at Horizon Discovery, remarked in a press release announcing the agreement. “Horizon is committed to supporting innovative organizations of all sizes to empower biotherapeutic production using our expression platform. We are proud to have licensed CHOSOURCE to over 80 organizations, from non-for-profit and early-stage startups to clinical-stage biotechnology and large pharmaceutical companies, and helped enable at least eight biotherapeutics expressed in these cells to progress into clinical trials.”

This is one of several agreements Horizon has established for its platform so far this year. In late July, the company licensed CHOSOURCE to biopharmaceutical company TrueBinding, Inc. for the development and commercialization of biotherapeutic products for applications in immuno-oncology and other diseases areas with unmet need. In May, Horizon inked a commercial license agreement with Rentschler Biopharma SE under which CHOSOURCE will be used together with Rentschler Biopharma's in-house process for cell line development for difficult-to-express proteins. Horizon began the year with a license deal as well, granting a multi-product use license of its GS knockout CHO K1 cell line to NGM Bio, which specializes in the development of novel therapeutics in indications such as cardio-metabolic, liver, oncologic and ophthalmic diseases.

Photo courtesy of Scott Graham on Unsplash