HZD.L Share News (HZD)

(ShareCast News) - Gene editing technology company Horizon Discovery has teamed up with a global pharmaceutical to support its drug discovery developments as it aims to increase revenue in 2017.The AIM-listed company penned a master service agreement with the pharmaceuticals adding to its original agreement to include Horizon's in vitro services, defining the pricing and terms and entry into future deals.The services included under the new agreement include custom cell line engineering, target identification and validation screening, drug combination screening, and cell-based assay services.The pharmaceutical is now Horizon's single largest customer, as it contributed over £1.5m in revenue in last year, and company said that the current project pipeline indicates there will be an increase in revenue for 2017.Chief executive Dr Darrin Disley said that in 2016, Horizon's top 20 customers provided over £9.8m to the company, and in 2017 it is looking to increase revenue from this segment by at least 20%, with this agreement serving as a template.He said: "Today's announcement demonstrates the success of Horizon's strategy of deepening relationships with our top customers. By taking a broader and more integrated approach, we are able to identify areas where we can provide significant value and are able to offer unified solutions that involve a range of Horizon's services."Shares in Horizon Discovery Group were up 0.57% to 176p at 0852 GMT.