Horizon Discovery, Mammoth Biosciences Sign Collaboration and License Agreement

Horizon Discovery Group and Mammoth Biosciences have signed a collaboration and license agreement aimed at the development of the next generation of engineered Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell lines to improve biotherapeutics production.

In a Jan. 13, 2020 press release, the companies announced that the agreement will give Horizon access to Mammoth’s novel CRISPR platform to facilitate delivery of a new generation of genetically engineered CHO cells to be used for the production of biotherapeutics. As per the terms of the agreement, the companies will work together to optimize certain CRISPR tools for rapid development of proprietary CHO cell lines.

“Horizon is committed to leading the field in delivering the next generation of CHO cell lines to an industry where greater flexibility, increased speed to market and cost reduction are key drivers,” said Terry Pizzie, CEO of Horizon Discovery, in the press release. “We believe that our expertise in cell line engineering can be leveraged to address many of these issues and with the addition of Mammoth’s technology, the opportunity now exists for Horizon to become a disruptive provider of best in class engineered CHO cells to enable the production of next-generation biotherapeutics.”

Trevor Martin, CEO of Mammoth Biosciences, added, “At Mammoth, we are committed to democratizing access to novel CRISPR technologies. Our founding team has already pioneered the invention of a variety of new CRISPR systems and we’re thrilled to see systems used for applications like biotherapeutic production at Horizon. We look forward to working with the Horizon team to support innovation through its platform.”

Source: Horizon Discovery