Cambridge, UK, 21 January 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 that it will license its gene-edited Glutamine Synthetase (GS) knockout Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) K1 cell line to NGM Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (“NGM”) (Nasdaq: NGM). A clinical stage biopharmaceutical company based in South San Francisco, California, NGM is focused on developing novel therapeutics based on scientific understanding of key biological pathways underlying cardio-metabolic, liver, oncologic and ophthalmic diseases.

“We are pleased to enter into this licensing agreement with NGM for this GS knockout CHO K1 cell line to support its broad research and development efforts,” commented Dirk Gewert, Business Unit Director, Horizon Discovery. “Horizon aims to empower organizations of all sizes, from large pharmaceutical companies to clinical stage biotechs and early stage startups, to drive efficiencies in biotherapeutic manufacturing. To date, our complete CHO expression system has been licensed to over 50 companies globally, with a number of biotherapeutics expressed in these cells having progressed to investigational new drug (IND) filings.”

Horizon’s proprietary GS knockout CHO K1 cell line and protocols facilitate the development of stable cell lines for the expression of antibodies and other recombinant proteins. The Company also licenses a CHO expression system to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and biosimilar companies, as well as contract manufacturing organizations. To enable companies to move from the DNA sequence of their potential biotherapeutic to clinical manufacturing as simply and rapidly as possible, the complete system includes the GS knockout CHO K1 cell line, a comprehensive package of supporting documentation, and an expression vector supplied under license from DNATwoPointO, Inc.

For further information on Horizon’s CHO cells please visit: https://www.horizondiscovery.com