Horizon Discovery launches new companion diagnostics venture

CAMBRIDGE, England—Translational genomics firm HorizonDiscovery announced in January that it has formed a new subsidiary venture,Horizon Dx Ltd. (HDx), to support the development, approval and sale ofcompanion diagnostic products initially in the field of cancer. At the centerof the venture will be Horizon's panel of more than 175 human isogenic cellmodels that recapitulate key drug sensitivity and resistance mechanisms incancer patients. The first commercial products supplied by the new venture willbe genetically defined mutant DNA and isogenic cell-admixtures situated withinformalin fixed paraffin embedded samples. These control reagents will be usedin conjunction with companion diagnostic kits that are currently enablingclinicians to ascertain which patients will respond to novel cancer therapies.Horizon is initially funding HDx from its balance sheet, but hopes to secure amulti-million dollar investment into the company by the end of the first halfof 2010.