Horizon Discovery CEO Wins Executive of the Year
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Dr Darrin Disley, the Chief Executive Officer of Horizon Discovery Group plc has been awarded Executive of the Year at last night’s SCRIP Awards 2014 in London.
The SCRIP Awards, now in its 10th year, is among the most prestigious in the calendar for the life sciences industry. The Executive of the Year Award acknowledges excellence in the leadership of large and small pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.
Dr. Disley has spearheaded the transformation of Horizon from start-up to one of the world’s leaders in the creation of tools for personalized medicine. From the Company’s launch in 2007 through 2013 he raised over £20 million in funding and defined the business model of building a company committed to accelerating the discovery of targeted personalized medicines, enabling the delivery of the right drugs to the right patient. Under his leadership, Horizon has gone from strength to strength, generating revenue growth on a compound basis of 126% in the six years to 2013. Further, he oversaw the listing of Horizon on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market, generating £69 million in funding, nearly three times the original fund-raising goal, supporting the Company through its next phase of growth. Since the IPO he has overseen two M&A transactions including the combination screening services business CombinatoRx based in Cambridge, Massachusetts and the world-leading in vivo gene-editing business SAGE Labs based in St Louis, Missouri and Boyertown, Pennsylvania.
Since the float, Darrin has continued to drive the business with targeted acquisitions into fast-growing areas of the personalized medicines space and by expanding the suite of products and services available to customers, bolstering Horizon’s intellectual property through licensing agreements, and delivering high-value contracts with world-leading life sciences companies.
Darrin’s entrepreneurialism and enthusiasm for life sciences continues outside of his role at Horizon, where he helps to support start-up ventures through fund-raising and mentoring, and through his passionate support of the UK Life Sciences sector.
Dr. Darrin M. Disley, Chief Executive Officer of Horizon Discovery, commented: “I am thrilled to have been given this award and to have been recognized by peers in this industry. This is a testament to the work of all my colleagues at Horizon over the year, during which we have been through a flotation, two major acquisitions and a series of key licensing deals and contract wins which are driving this business forward, and it is an honour to be heading such a dynamic company.”
