Horizon Discovery Group, a Cambridge, UK-headquartered gene-editing technology company, has entered into a research and development collaboration and license agreement with AmplyCell, a Liege, Belgium-headquartered cell-manufacturing technology company, to evaluate the impact of AmplyCell’s cell line optimization technology, Boost, on Horizon’s parental glutamine synthetase (GS) null Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) K1 cell line.

AmplyCell’s cell fitness technologies consist of a four-stage process to optimize cell lines in terms of stability and productivity. Cell lines can be stimulated using AmplyCell’s cell fitness technologies at any stage of cell-line development or bioproduction without the need to change culture conditions.

Under the agreement, Horizon will make an upfront undisclosed payment to AmplyCell. Upon establishing a positive impact on the CHO cell line, AmplyCell will then be entitled to receive success-based development and commercial milestone payments and Horizon will have the non-exclusive worldwide rights to sublicense these amplified CHO-K1 cell lines to third parties. AmplyCell is also eligible to receive tiered royalties based on the net sales of these sublicensed lines.

Horizon’s CHO source platform comprises the industry-standard glutamine synthetase (GS) selection system partnered with an expression vector and established culturing protocols. Horizon is using a targeted application of genome editing to grow this platform and generate a series of improved cell lines that advance the bioproduction capability of CHO cells.

Before releasing a next generation of bioproduction cell lines, Horizon will evaluate the impact of Amplycell’s technology on the expression capability of its parental GS null CHO K1 cell line. If the evaluation is successful, the Boost procedure will be applied as a standard to future generations of cell lines, according to Horizon.

Source: Horizon Discovery Group