Awards contender Horizon Discovery Limited is seeking to recruit a significant number of new people as it continues to lead the world in accelerating the advent of personalised medicines.

The majority of the roles are for Horizon’s Cambridge headquarters but the company is also vetting its options for a United States sales office, so some positions have catered for that eventuality.

In its US push, Horizon plans to cover both East and West Coasts in a drive for excellence that will literally go from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Horizon today advertises through Business Weekly 20 key positions – 17 in the UK and three US-focused to underpin its ongoing growth strategy (See advertisement below).

The new vacancies embrace roles such as QC genotyping scientist, cell team scientists, QC scientists (cell sciences), product manager, European sales executive, US West sales executive, US East sales executive, and marketing Manager HD.

The US operation – whether virtual or physical – is needed to meet exceptionally high customer demand.

Horizon’s global growth targets are challenging and to exceed them, the management are determined to invest more heavily in sales & marketing as well capacity.

Founded in 2007 by Dr Chris Torrance and Professor Alberto Bardelli, the company builds on a long heritage in gene-engineering, cancer research and translational medicine, and draws on IP and know-how from the University of Washington, the Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland, the University of Minnesota and the Department of Oncological Sciences at the University of Torino Medical School.

Horizon Discovery’s proprietary virally-mediated gene-engineering technology, GENESIS™, enables any endogenous gene in a human cell-line to be altered quickly, reliably and without introducing unwanted and confounding genotypes and/or phenotypes.

Using GENESIS, Horizon Discovery has developed X-MAN™ (Gene-X; Mutant And Normal) cell models, which are the world’s first source of genetically-defined and patient-relevant human cell lines.

The company’s broad panel of over 250 different X-MAN cell lines, which have been referred to as ‘patients-in-a-test-tube,’ accurately model the disease-causing mutations in cancer patients.

The X-MAN cell lines are being used by academic and industry leaders to identify the effect of individual mutations on drug activity, patient responsiveness and resistance, and to successfully predict which patient sub-groups will respond to currently-available and future drug treatments.
 
This supports the design of shorter, more focused clinical trials, making it possible to identify the ‘right drugs’ for the ‘right patients’ based upon the unique genetic mutations that define their disease.

Horizon has clinched one milestone deal after another, striking important  partnerships with world leaders. Its cash haul to date represents 30X post-money since it gained seed investment in the spring of 2008; that equates to a current post-money tally of £24m. Business Weekly’s judgement call is that Horizon will float on the London Stock Exchange in 2012-13.

• PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS: Horizon Discovery chief executive officer and co-founder Dr Chris Torrance with executive chairman, Dr Darrin M Disley