MARTINSRIED, Germany, March 18, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Boehringer Ingelheim and MorphoSys AG (Frankfurt: MOR; Prime Standard Segment, TecDAX) announced today an expansion of their existing cooperation involving both research and therapeutic applications. Under the new contract, Boehringer Ingelheim has acquired an option to receive several exclusive licenses on new therapeutic antibody programs. The two companies presently have two therapeutic antibody programs in joint collaboration. Additionally, Boehringer Ingelheim will obtain access to MorphoSys' HuCAL GOLD(r) library for research purposes at a number of the firm's research facilities. The first installation site is intended to be Boehringer Ingelheim's site in Vienna, Austria. MorphoSys will receive a technology access fee, annual license fees and optional R&D funding over the five-year collaboration term. For therapeutic antibodies emerging from the collaboration, Boehringer Ingelheim will pay milestone fees and royalties to MorphoSys. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.
Since February 2003, Boehringer Ingelheim and MorphoSys have been working jointly on the development of therapeutic antibodies using MorphoSys' HuCAL(r) technology.
"The extended collaboration with MorphoSys will strengthen our capability to generate innovative human monoclonal antibodies and to discover new therapeutic entities," said Mikael Dolsten, Head of Corporate Research at Boehringer Ingelheim. "We are very pleased to continue this collaboration with the aim of providing novel future biological treatment options for patients suffering from cancer, immune, inflammatory and other severe human diseases."
"We are very pleased about the continued commitment shown by our partner, Boehringer Ingelheim, to extensive use of our HuCAL GOLD(r) technology," stated Dr. Simon Moroney, Chief Executive Officer of MorphoSys AG. "Alongside the two antibody programs already being actively pursued as part of our partnership, this new agreement significantly expands the research applications of our technology, and promises to lead to additional therapeutic projects in the future."
About MorphoSys:
MorphoSys develops and applies innovative technologies for the production of synthetic antibodies, which accelerate drug discovery and target characterization. Founded in 1992, the Company's proprietary Human Combinatorial Antibody Library (HuCAL(r)) technology is used by researchers worldwide for human antibody generation. The Company currently has licensing agreements and/or research collaborations with Bayer (Berkeley, California/USA), Boehringer Ingelheim (Ingelheim, Germany), Bristol-Myers Squibb (New Jersey/USA), Centocor Inc. (Malvern, Pennsylvania/USA), GPC Biotech AG (Munich/Germany), Hoffmann-La Roche AG (Basel/Switzerland), ImmunoGen Inc. (Cambridge, Massachusetts/USA), Novartis AG (Basel, Switzerland), Pfizer Inc. (Delaware/USA), ProChon Biotech Ltd. (Rehovot/Israel), Schering AG (Berlin/Germany) and Xoma Ltd. (Berkeley, California/USA). Additionally, MorphoSys is active in the antibody research market through its Antibodies by Design business unit. Antibodies by Design was founded in 2003 for the purpose of exploiting the MorphoSys non-therapeutic antibody markets. MorphoSys' activities in the research antibody segment were significantly strengthened through the acquisition of the U.K. and U.S.-based Biogenesis Group in January 2005. For further information please visit the corporate website at: http://www.morphosys.com/.
Statements included in this press release which are not historical in nature are intended to be, and are hereby identified as, "forward-looking statements" for purposes of the safe harbour provided by Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be identified by words including "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "expects" and similar expressions. The company cautions readers that forward-looking statements, including without limitation those relating to the company's future operations and business prospects, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Factors that may affect future operations and business prospects include, but are not limited to, clinical and scientific results and developments concerning corporate collaborations and the company's proprietary rights and other factors described in the prospectus relating to the company's recent public offering.