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MorphoSys Announces Clinical
Milestone in Antibody Program
Fourth HuCAL-based Antibody to Begin Clinical Trials
Martinsried/Munich, September 18, 2007 - MorphoSys AG (Frankfurt Stock Exchange:
MOR; Prime Standard Segment) announced today that a HuCAL GOLD-derived fully
human antibody against a non-disclosed target molecule in the therapeutic area
of oncology has been advanced to a Phase 1 clinical trial. This Investigational
New Drug application filing, resulting from MorphoSys collaboration with
Novartis, triggers a clinical milestone payment to MorphoSys.
In May 2004, Novartis and MorphoSys signed a wide-ranging strategic antibody
alliance to jointly develop new antibody-based therapeutics to treat a range of
illnesses. As part of the collaboration, Novartis acquired an equity stake in
MorphoSys of approximately EUR 9 million. In June 2006, MorphoSys and Novartis
expanded the collaboration to include a greater number of new therapeutic
antibody projects annually - resulting in increased Novartis funding for
research at MorphoSys. The collaboration is scheduled to continue through May
2011.
"Seeing the first IND filing for a therapeutic program within our partnership
with Novartis just three years after the initiation of the collaboration is an
outstanding achievement and underscores the effectiveness and productivity of
this highly interactive alliance," commented Dr. Marlies Sproll, Chief
Scientific Officer of MorphoSys AG. "Today's news exemplifies the drug
development strength of our HuCAL GOLD technology to deliver antibody lead
candidates that can advance quickly from the antibody generation stage through
pre-clinical testing to clinical trials."
About MorphoSys:
MorphoSys is a publicly traded biotechnology company focused on the
generation of fully human antibodies as a means to discover and develop
innovative antibody-based drugs against life-threatening diseases. MorphoSys's
goal is to establish HuCAL as the technology of choice for antibody generation
in research, diagnostics and therapeutic applications. The Company currently has
therapeutic and research alliances with the majority of the world's largest
pharmaceutical companies including Bayer-Schering, Boehringer Ingelheim,
Centocor/Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Pfizer and Roche. Within these
partnerships, more than 40 therapeutic antibody programs are ongoing in which
MorphoSys participates through exclusive license and milestones payments as well
as royalties on any end products. Additionally, MorphoSys is active in the
antibody research market through its AbD Serotec business unit. The business
unit has operations in Germany (Munich), the U.S. (Raleigh, NC) and U.K.
(Oxford). For further information please visit
http://www.morphosys.com/
HuCAL(R) and HuCAL GOLD(R) are registered trademarks of MorphoSys AG
This communication contains certain forward-looking statements concerning the
MorphoSys group of companies. The forward-looking statements contained herein
represent the judgment of MorphoSys as of the date of this release and involve
risks and uncertainties. Should actual conditions differ from the Company's
assumptions, actual results and actions may differ from those anticipated.
MorphoSys does not intend to update any of these forward-looking statements as
far as the wording of the relevant press release is concerned.
For further information, please contact:
Andrew Lloyd & Associates
Andrew Lloyd / Neil Hunter
Tel: +44 1273 675100
allo@ala.com
/ neil@ala.com
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