Horizon Branches Out With Oncology Program
This article was originally published in Scrip
Stepping away from its usual research service agreements, Horizon Discovery Group Plc. has signed an in-licensing and option agreement with French pharma company Servier Laboratories for an oncology program.
Potentially worth over £50m to Horizon in preclinical and clinical milestone payments plus royalties, the deal will cover the in-licensing of Servier's kinase inhibitors. Upfront financial arrangements were not disclosed.
Horizon, which raised £68.8m in March last year when it went public, plans to identify how these compounds act and which cancer patients will respond. Using its translation genomics and combination sciences platforms, including isogenic cells lines and in vivo models, CRISPR-Cas mediated gene editing technology and ultra-high-throughput combination screening, Horizon will aim to identify target biomarkers for the kinase inhibitors.
An agreement of this sort is a first for Horizon but it won't be the last according to CEO, Dr. Darrin Disley. He told Scrip, "We're now in a good position with our technology to take on – in this case a series of kinase inhibitors – [candidates] that have very interesting targets, that have applications both in a broad range of cancers but also other therapy areas as well."
With plans to stratify the inhibitors based on the genomic profiles, Horizon will apply its gene editing tools to dissect the disease biology and analyze the mechanism of action in the different patient groups identified by biomarkers.
Horizon already has a history with this particular program. Disley revealed that his company's chief scientific officer and vice-president of oncology used to work for Vernalis, which developed the compounds under a research partnership with Servier. Disley believes with the knowledge they have of the target group and its indication, they can get the compound into the clinic within 2 years.
Under the agreement, Servier has a first option to license back the assets. Should Servier take up this option, Horizon would receive up to £50m in milestone payments plus royalties on product sales. If Servier does not take up its option, Horizon will be free to seek another pharma partner and Horizon and Servier would then share in the success of the program as it advances into the clinic and towards registration.