Horizon Discovery, a life science spin-out of Cambridge University, signs its second collaboration with pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca.
Horizon Discovery has partnered with AstraZeneca to explore a range of oncology-relevant genotypes, marking its second collaboration with the pharmaceutical firm.
The deal is worth up to $88m in milestone payments to the Cambridge University spin-out, which will also receive an undisclosed payment up front.
The announcement builds on a strong 2013 for the company, which won the Licencing Deal of the Year at the 2013 SCRIP Intelligence Awards for its first collaboration with AstraZeneca and also closed a $29.1m series C round in June.
Darrin Disley, chief executive at Horizon Discovery, said: “We are delighted to have extended our relationship with AstraZeneca’s Oncology team with this latest agreement. Horizon is uniquely placed in the translational genomics field for investigation of synthetic lethality, as our X-MAN isogenic disease models incorporate patient-relevant genetic context, and allow large scale, timely and systematic screens for the first time. Combined with our high-throughput RNAi and bioinformatics technology platforms, we have a powerful offering.”
