MARTINSRIED, Germany, March 26, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- MorphoSys AG (Frankfurt:MOR) (Prime Standard Segment) announced today that its current board member Professor Andreas Pluckthun intends to resign from the Supervisory Board with effect of 16 May, 2007. Professor Pluckthun is leaving the board at his own request, in order to devote additional time to his increasing number of academic research programs at the University of Zurich, as well as to be able to pursue other entrepreneurial opportunities. The Supervisory Board accepted Prof. Pluckthun's decision with regret and thanked him for his long-lasting support and his contribution to the growth and success of the Company. As successor to Professor Pluckthun, the Supervisory Board will propose the nomination of Dr. Walter Blattler, formerly Executive Vice President, Science and Technology of ImmunoGen, Inc., at the Company's next annual shareholder meeting in May. Professor Pluckthun will remain connected to MorphoSys as an advisor on future technology development.
Dr. Walter A. Blattler studied chemistry at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich (ETH Zurich), and subsequently held a research position as a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University, Cambridge, U.S.A. Prior to joining ImmunoGen at its newly established laboratories, Dr. Blattler held various positions at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, in Boston. In 1987 he joined ImmunoGen Inc., as Vice President and subsequently Senior Vice President, R&D. In 1996 he was promoted to Executive Vice President, Science & Technology. During his time with the company, ImmunoGen introduced several antibody-based drugs into clinical development and established several successful research and/or development collaborations with major pharmaceutical companies.
"On behalf of the Supervisory Board of MorphoSys, I would like to thank Professor Pluckthun for his long-lasting support and his very active contribution to the growth and success of the Company," commented Dr. Gerald Moller, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of MorphoSys AG. "At the same time, we are particularly glad to be able to nominate Dr. Walter Blattler, whose expertise in developing antibody-based drugs will be highly valuable for MorphoSys in its future development."
"I would like to add my personal thanks to my co-founder Prof. Pluckthun for his invaluable support and commitment to MorphoSys during his term on our board. With his broad scientific expertise in the field of antibody technologies, he has made an enormous contribution to the successful development of the Company to the state we see today, where the technology is fully established and successfully commercialized," commented Dr. Simon Moroney, Chief Executive Officer of MorphoSys AG.
Professor Pluckthun co-founded the Company in 1992 and served on the Supervisory Board of MorphoSys since that time. During his term with MorphoSys Professor Pluckthun played a prominent role in establishing and developing the proprietary antibody technologies MorphoSys possesses today.
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) technology is used by researchers worldwide for human antibody generation. The Company currently has licensing agreements and/or research collaborations with Bayer-Schering (USA/Germany), Boehringer Ingelheim (Germany), Bristol-Myers Squibb (USA), Centocor Inc. (USA), Daiichi Sankyo & Co., Ltd. (Japan), GPC Biotech AG (Germany), Hoffmann-La Roche AG (Switzerland), ImmunoGen Inc. (USA), Merck & Co., Inc. (USA), Novartis AG (Switzerland), Novoplant GmbH (Germany), OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (USA), Pfizer Inc. (USA), ProChon Biotech Ltd. (Israel), Schering-Plough (USA), Shionogi & Co., Ltd. (Japan), Xoma Ltd. (USA) and others. Additionally, MorphoSys is active in the antibody research market through its AbD Serotec business unit. The business unit 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 and Serotec Group in 2006. 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.
HuCAL(r) and HuCAL GOLD(r) are registered trademarks of MorphoSys AG