LEIDEN – BIOKÉ, a Cell Signaling Technology Europe (CST Europe) company, and Horizon Discovery Group plc (LSE: HZD) (“Horizon” or “the Company”), the international life science company supplying research tools and services that power genomics research and the development of personalized medicines, announced that they have signed an exclusive agreement allowing BIOKE to distribute Horizon’s reference standards in The Netherlands, effective as of today.

A key factor in accuracy of diagnosis is variability in the quality of clinical samples, which is currently a major concern within molecular pathology laboratories. Variability can be caused by one or a combination of many factors. Pathologists currently use positive patient tissue material or cultivated cell lines as controls, which are not always available, especially for rare mutations, and can have issues with heterogeneity and consistency. There is therefore a clear need for solutions, such as the use of independent external controls, to provide higher intra- and inter-laboratory reproducibility, to help prevent inaccurate diagnoses that can lead to incorrect and ineffective therapies.

“The addition of HDx™ Reference Standards to the BIOKÉ portfolio strengthens our ability to provide complete workflows to customers in NGS, Sanger sequencing, IHC, qPCR, ddPCR and FISH”, said Koos Kranenborg, Director of Marketing & Sales – BIOKÉ.

“The agreement with BIOKÉ marks our milestone in the importance of well validated controls especially as technologies such as NGS become more widely adopted for diagnostic use. Horizon is committed and motivated to be working with BIOKÉ, taking our reference standard technology into new territories.” Louisa Ludbrook, Head of Sales, Diagnostics.

About BIOKÉ

BIOKÉ, founded in 2004, is a leading provider of Life Science and Diagnostics solutions in the Benelux. The young and dynamic company provides innovative, high-performance applications for genomics, proteomics, and molecular diagnostics. Since 2009, the office in Leiden is the European base of operations of Cell Signaling Technology.

With its technologies and equipment, BIOKÉ helps accelerate and improve diagnostics and research activities by enabling reproducible results. The company provides with customized solutions, including service support – not as a contractor, but as a knowledge partner.

For additional information please visit the BIOKÉ website at www.bioke.com

About Horizon Discovery Group plc

Horizon is a revenue-generating life science group supplying research tools to organisations engaged in genomics research and the development of personalized medicines. Horizon has a diverse and international customer base of over 1,200 organisations across more than 50 countries, including major pharmaceutical, biotechnology and diagnostic companies as well as leading academic research centers. The Group supplies its products and services into multiple markets, estimated to total in excess of £29 billion by 2015.

Horizon’s core capabilities are built around its proprietary translational genomics platform, a high-precision and flexible suite of gene editing tools able to alter almost any endogenous gene sequence of human or mammalian cell-lines. Horizon offers over 20,000 products, almost all of which are based on the application of gene editing to generate cell lines that accurately model the disease-causing mutations found in genetically based diseases. These ‘patients-in-a-test-tube’ are being used by customers to identify the effect of individual or compound genetic mutations on drug activity, patient responsiveness, and resistance, which may lead to the successful prediction of which patient sub-groups will respond to currently available and future drug treatments.

In addition, Horizon provides custom cell line and in vivo model generation services for research and bioproduction applications, quantitative molecular reference standards, in vivo disease models, and contract research and custom screening services.

Horizon is headquartered in Cambridge, UK, and is listed on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market under the ticker “HZD”, for further information please visit: www.horizondiscovery.com