Schering-Plough Extends Antibody Alliance With MorphoSys - Third Extension With Major Pharmaceutical Company After Landmark Deal With Novartis

Main Category: Pharma Industry / Biotech Industry
Also Included In: Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses;  Biology / Biochemistry
Article Date: 20 May 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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MorphoSys AG (FSE: MOR; Prime Standard Segment, TecDAX) announced that Schering-Plough Corporation has decided to extend the current collaboration between the two companies for one year. The collaboration, announced in May 2006, has a maximum term of 5 years until 2011 and may be extended by Schering-Plough after each single year.

Under the agreement, Schering-Plough will continue to have access to MorphoSys's proprietary antibody library HuCAL GOLD at its research site in Palo Alto, California, the location of Schering-Plough Biopharma, an affiliate of Schering-Plough Research Institute. Furthermore, the contract provides Schering-Plough with the option to develop and commercialize HuCAL-derived therapeutic antibodies, in which case MorphoSys would receive exclusive license fees, milestone payments, as well as royalties. Under the extended agreement MorphoSys continues to receive annual user fees for access to its HuCAL platform. Further financial details were not disclosed.

"Today's news is yet another clear signal that our HuCAL technology will continue to form the basis of antibody-based drug development programs at a number of leading pharmaceutical companies," commented Dr. Simon Moroney, Chief Executive Officer of MorphoSys. "We are very pleased with Schering-Plough's decision to continue using our HuCAL GOLD technology for their antibody development programs."

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 Boehringer Ingelheim, Centocor/Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Pfizer and Roche. Within these partnerships, more than 50 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 and HuCAL GOLD 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.

http://www.morphosys.com/