Cambridge-based translational genomics company Horizon Discovery is in prime position to exploit massive new opportunities in the United States worth multi-millions of dollars to the business.

Business Weekly can reveal that a whole raft of flagship deals are about to be announced, many with US Big Pharma giants – one of which in the cancer arena could be worth millions on its own.

Just as significant is the news that Horizon has joined forces with another UK company, DxS, to open up a whole new ball park for the partners across the Atlantic. They have engineered a business model designed to lead the world in setting standards for companion diagnostic tests.

Their strategic collaboration will see Horizon develop a panel of human isogenic cell models that recapitulate key drug sensitivity and resistance mechanisms in cancer patients that will be used to further develop DxS’ TheraScreen range of clinical diagnostic kits.

Using a proprietary gene-engineering technology called GENESISTM, Horizon will generate a range of ‘X-MANTM’ (Mutant And Normal) cell-lines as a source of high-quality, genetically-defined human DNA that will be specifically used to assess the performance of DxS’ TheraScreen: K-RAS Mutation Kits.

These kits enable clinicians to ascertain which patients will respond to anti-EGFR targeted colorectal cancer treatments including Erbitux and Vectibix based on K-RAS mutation status.

Around 40 per cent of colorectal patients test positive for K-RAS mutations (a finding that was the subject of a seminal publication by Horizon co-founder Professor Alberto Bardelli in Cancer Research in March 2007); with the patients most likely to respond to the anti-EGFR therapies found in the remaining 60 per cent (K-RAS wild type).

This has led to a decision by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) to make the testing of all colon cancer patients for these resistance genes compulsory before EGFR-targeted drugs can be prescribed.

The American Society of Clinical Oncologists (ASCO) is similarly petitioning for the same guidelines to be adopted in the US – creating a ‘world’s your oyster’ scenario for Horizon.

Current estimates indicate that around $750 million/year of savings will be conferred on taxpayers and healthcare re-imbursers by the prescription of EGFR-drugs only to patients with a non-mutated K-RAS gene, who will benefit from the drugs.  

Dr Chris Torrance, CEO of Horizon said: “We are entering an age where we have enough information to have a significant impact on treating cancer. It now comes down to the time and money it currently takes to find and tailor new targeted treatments.

“It is Horizon’s mission to better coordinate all the stakeholders and regulators in the drug discovery process, such as the FDA, NIST and EMEA, to find ways of speeding up this process.”

Although financial terms of the Horizon-DxS agreement were not disclosed, its significance in terms of future cash and kudos cannot be underestimated.

The new string of mega-deals follows Horizon’s success in clinching a lucrative contract with Wall Street listed pharma company SuperGen.

The Californian company, quoted on Nasdaq, is focusing on cancer therapies and will pay Horizon undisclosed fees during the term of the agreement. Collaboration begins this month.

The deal relates to Horizon’s X-MAN cell-line technology, which provides the first genetically-defined and patient-relevant in vitro models of human cancer. These models are being used by a growing number of pharma and biotech companies to rationalise key steps of the ‘targeted’ drug development process, and thus accelerate and economise the burgeoning field of ‘personalised’ medicine.

The new agreement covers the screening of a number of lead compounds on a wide panel of human isogenic cell-lines comprising target genotypes of interest to SuperGen.