MARTINSRIED, Germany, Dec. 11, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MorphoSys AG (Frankfurt:MOR) (Prime Standard Segment) announced today that its licensing partner, Centocor R&D Inc., has enrolled a patient in a Phase 2 clinical trial with a HuCAL-derived fully human antibody. A Phase 1 clinical trial using the same antibody in oncology patients was initiated in 2007 and is ongoing. The new trial is in an immunology indication. This achievement marks the first antibody, developed with MorphoSys's core technology, to enter human clinical trials in a second indication with partners. The initiation of the Phase 2 trial and the IND in a new indication trigger clinical milestone payments to MorphoSys.
"Today's news marks further significant progress within our partnered therapeutic antibody business and underpins the variety of commercial opportunities inherent in our pipeline," commented Dr. Simon Moroney, Chief Executive Officer of MorphoSys AG. "Indication broadening is at the heart of the commercial success of several antibody therapies currently on the market. For MorphoSys, additional indications represent further value for our partnered drug pipeline as it leads to higher clinical milestones and royalty-based income."
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(r), HuCAL GOLD(r), HuCAL PLATINUM(r) and RapMAT(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.
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