NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – UK firm Horizon Discovery today announced it has been granted an exclusive worldwide license by Public University Corporation Yokohama City University (YCU) for 50 new X-Man cell lines.
The cell lines are focused on DNA repair and include important double knockout cell lines, Horizon said, noting that they complement the UK firm's existing X-Man DNA repair panel in the HCT-116 colon cell line.
The new lines are in the NALM-6 cell line, a B-cell derived line. As a result of the deal, Horizon's panel of X-Man cell lines now includes B-cells.
Horizon will pay YCU upfront and ongoing royalty payments as part of the deal. In exchange, it receives the exclusive, worldwide rights to distribute the cell lines. The agreement supports Horizon's strategy to generate at least 2,500 new X-man models of cancer, neurodegenerative, and cardiovascular disease, it said.
The new cell lines will enable researchers to learn more about the role of DNA repair in leukemia, while providing a new model for other diseases. Horizon added that they will provide insight into how genetic diseases manifest themselves in patients and help rationalize many aspects of new-drug development.