Horizon Discovery appoints Eric Rhodes as chief technical officer

Eric Rhodes has been appointed chief technical officer at UK-based Horizon Discovery.

Rhodes joins the personalised medicine specialists from his role as business development director at life science and technology company Sigma-Aldrich Corp.

In his new position, Rhodes will use his experience of gene-targeting therapeutics to advise R&D and marketing for Horizon's rAAV-mediated genome editing technology, this enables genes in a human cell-line to be altered quickly and reliably, according to the company.

Prior to his position as Sigma-Aldrich, Rhodes was VP of business development at Sangamo Biosciences, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company that focuses on DNA research, from 1998 until 2008.

In both roles he was responsible for the commercialisation of gene-editing technology, during which time he made licensing deals with more than 24 biotech and pharma companies.

Dr Darrin Disley, CEO of Horizon, said: “Eric has a proven track record of delivery in the biotech industry, backed by a broad knowledge of the gene-editing field, and so brings added perspective to our technology, IP and commercial strategies.

“I'm delighted to welcome him to Horizon, and look forward to seeing him make an impact within an innovative, dynamic and entrepreneurial environment.”