Cambridge, UK, 29 April 2020: Horizon Discovery Group plc (LSE: HZD) (“Horizon”, “the Company” or “the Group”), a global leader in the application of gene editing and gene modulation for cell line engineering, today announced it has added two new sample formats to its cell-based OncoSpan reference standards for use in the development and validation of workflows for cancer diagnostic assays.

Horizon’s OncoSpan range now includes formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) and cell-free DNA (cfDNA) formats for mimicking solid tumors and liquid biopsy samples, respectively, in addition to its well-established genomic DNA (gDNA) format. Its cfDNA format offers one of the largest number of variants and genes, over 380 and 152 respectively, of any characterized reference standard to help standardize liquid biopsy testing.

These cell-line derived reference standards closely mimic patient samples and offer an unlimited and reproducible resource to help ensure consistency during the establishment and validation of diagnostic assays. All three formats are delivered with batch-specific, next-generation sequencing (NGS) data, orthogonally validated by ddPCR, to allow researchers to further validate their analysis pipeline.

Paul Brooks, Head of Business Operations, Horizon Discovery said: “Horizon offers a range of premium reference standards for various molecular platforms including NGS and digital PCR. By extending our OncoSpan portfolio to include these additional sample formats, we are now able to provide more researchers working at the forefront of molecular diagnostics, with the reagents needed to suit their specific workflows. These cell-line derived standards offer significant benefits over less-commutable synthetic standards, meaning researchers can rely on our reference standards to deliver consistent results and have confidence in the performance of their diagnostic assays.”

For further information about Horizon’s OncoSpan reference standards, please visit: horizondiscovery.com/en/products/diagnostic-reference-standards/PIFs/OncoSpan-cfDNA