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Chosen from an initial pool of 28 companies by a group of life science industry leaders and audience polling, Horizon Discovery was one of three finalists that included SV Bio and Telmedx.
UK-based Horizon Discovery has developed a translational genomics platform and drug discovery toolbox that enables the development of new therapies targeted at the genetic features that drive an individual's cancer. The award was accepted by Dr. Darrin Disley, CEO of Horizon, and Dr. Chris Torrance, CSO of Horizon.
Horizon's CEO, Dr Darrin Disley, commented: "This award is a testament to the strength of the Horizon team, and comes in recognition of what we have already achieved and what we are always working towards - making a difference in the lives of cancer sufferers. The award also shows how competitive a UK-based biotech company can be with its US and global counterparts. I look forward to leading Horizon in the next stages of the company's development."
To qualify for the Most Promising Company Competition, a company must be privately-held and working the areas of therapeutics, diagnostics or platform and information technologies. Selection is based on how a company's innovation is disruptive to current standard-of-care, both in cost and effectiveness; strength of team and ability to execute; barriers to competition and strength of intellectual property and expected financial returns for investors.
This year's competition started with a brief testimonial given by 2012 award winner Lissa Goldenstein, CEO of Auxoygn: "It's wonderful to be among organizations that are transforming personalized medicine and the current standard of care with disruptive technologies. As the 2012 recipient of the Most Promising Company Award, it is my honor and privilege to kick off this year's conference to celebrate organizations who are on the forefront of innovation to advance personalized medicine."
Judges for the Most Promising Company Award competition included Beth Seidenberg, M.D., Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; Diego Miralles, M.D., Head, Janssen Research & Development and Janssen Healthcare Innovation; and Warren H. Hogarth, Ph.D., Partner, Sequoia Capital.
Moderated by Melinda Richter, Founder and CEO, Prescience International, the award competition included audience text vote polling which allowed PMWC 2013 attendees to help determine this year's winner.
"We are very pleased and honored to be involved in an award that features such promising scientific breakthroughs from around the world," said Richter. "This year again, the quality of the award competitors demonstrates how much personalized medicine continues to grow," continued Richter.
According to Tal Behar, co-founder of PMWC "Personalized medicine is one of the most revolutionary accomplishments mankind has ever seen. Companies highlighted during this year's competition are at the forefront of this achievement and help solve the most pressing healthcare challenges of our time."
About Personalized Medicine World Conference
Based in Silicon Valley, the Personalized Medicine World Conference (PMWC) International platform emphasizes innovation and industry, with the objective of accelerating the adoption of evidence-based medicine.
In its two-day, business, and educational conferences, PMWC brings together multidisciplinary thought-leadership the business, government, healthcare-delivery, research and technology arenas to examine how to improve the care experience to patients and address the increasing demand for high-quality, cost effective, personalized care.
About Prescience International
Prescience International (prescienceintl.com) is dedicated to accelerating the commercialization and global adoption of science and technology. With industry expertise in the future of technology markets, Prescience International creates and manages centers of excellence in the form of research parks, innovation centers, research foundations, research institutes and emerging companies. The Prescience team brings a combination of business and lab experience to translate science and technology into economic wealth and social impact. Prescience's projects have won international acclaim and the companies within these projects have demonstrated that their development times and costs are cut by at least 50 percent.
About Horizon Discovery Limited
Horizon Discovery Limited (Horizon) is a leading provider of research tools to support translational genomics research and the development of personalized medicines. The Company's proprietary rAAV gene-editing technology, GENESIS™, is industry leading. Using GENESIS, Horizon is able to alter any endogenous gene sequence of a human or mammalian cell-line quickly, reliably and without introducing unwanted and confounding genotypes and/or phenotypes.
Horizon has applied GENESIS to create over 500 X-MAN™ cell lines, the world's first source of genetically-defined and patient-relevant human cell lines, accurately modeling the disease-causing mutations found in cancer patients. These 'patients-in-a-test-tube' are being used by academic and industry leaders to identify the effect of individual or compound genetic mutations on drug activity, patient responsiveness, and resistance, leading to the successful prediction of which patient sub-groups will respond to currently-available and future drug treatments. This enables the design of shorter, more focused, and less expensive clinical trials, ultimately providing the tools to identify the 'right drugs' for the 'right patients' based upon the unique genetic mutations that define their disease.
In addition to the X-MAN cell lines, Horizon provides GENESIS and X-MAN derived products and services, with industrial applications in: bio-pharmaceutical process optimization; clinical diagnostic development; drug discovery & development; and the provision of reference standards for genomic-based clinical research platforms.
GENESIS and X-MAN are registered trademarks of Horizon Discovery Limited.
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