Horizon Discovery and Fulcrum Therapeutics link up on novel CRISPR-based target discovery

The UK’s Horizon Discovery Group (LSE: HZD) today announced a new collaboration with Fulcrum Therapeutics, a USA-based firm founded in July 2016 by Third Rock Ventures.

The collaboration will utilize Horizon’s world-leading CRISPR-based screening platform to identify novel targets for regulating gene expression. The program will initially focus on genetic diseases where no effective treatment options currently exist.

Horizon’s CRISPR-based screening platform, sophisticated bioinformatics and cell line libraries provide a novel and highly efficient way to examine the regulation of genes and their role in disease. In this collaboration, Horizon will apply its platform and extensive know-how to identify novel gene regulation targets for further exploration by Fulcrum for the development of next-generation therapies.

The work will be engaged under a full-time equivalent (FTE) plus consumables model in a program expected to run between five and seven months. Fulcrum has chosen Horizon as its preferred CRISPR-based screening platform service provider, and there is potential for further screens to identify targets for additional rare diseases after this initial program.