Sigma Life Science, an innovative biological products and services business of Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, has entered a non-exclusive license agreement with Horizon Discovery for use of Sigma's CompoZr Zinc Finger Nuclease (ZFN) technology. The agreement gives Horizon the commercial freedom to apply the technology alongside its proprietary rAAV technology in its gene-editing service and cell line product business units.

Horizon will immediately begin applying the CompoZr ZFN technology as part of its custom cell line generation service, in which the company currently uses its own rAAV technology, to efficiently and cost-effectively generate a number of novel gene-edited cell lines. The offering will be marketed under Horizon's precision gene-editing brand GENESIS.

"Licensing CompoZr ZFN technology to Horizon is another step in making the most robust and flexible gene editing technology widely available to the entire research community," said Paul Brooks, Ph.D., Global Market Segment Manager at Sigma-Aldrich. "We are pleased that Horizon will be using its expertize to apply both rAAV and CompoZr ZFN gene editing technologies side by side for the benefit of the research community."

"Nuclease based approaches are particularly adept at achieving rapid and efficient knock-out of two or more alleles, making them a perfect complement to Horizon's proprietary rAAV-based precision gene-editing platform," said Eric Rhodes, chief technology officer of Horizon who has 15 years of experience in ZFN and rAAV gene-editing technology. "Our scientists have the expertise and now an unrivalled toolset to help guide customers toward the approach that best answers their biological question and/or suits their timescale and budget."

Under the terms of the deal, Horizon will obtain CompoZr ZFNs manufactured by Sigma Life Science for use in commercial development of cell-based products and to provide commercial gene editing services.  Financial terms were not disclosed.

Sigma Life Science is a Sigma-Aldrich business that represents the company's leadership in innovative biological products and services for the global life science market and offers an array of biologically-rich products and reagents that researchers use in scientific investigation.

Sigma-Aldrich, a leading Life Science and High Technology company focused on enhancing human health and safety, manufactures and distributes more than 200,000 chemicals, biochemicals and other essential products to more than 1.4 million customers globally in research and applied labs as well as in industrial and commercial markets.