MARTINSRIED, Germany, Feb. 20, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MorphoSys AG (Frankfurt:MOR) (Prime Standard Segment, TecDAX) announced today the appointment of a new Head of Pre-clinical Development & Project Management. Dr. Ulrich Moebius joins MorphoSys from Medigene AG, a TecDAX listed German biopharmaceutical company. For the last nine years, he held the position of Head of Pre-clinical Development, where he was responsible for the company's preclinical activities in a range of development projects predominantly in cancer and contributed to the market approval of two medical therapies. Prior to his tenure at Medigene, he spent five years with the Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum DKFZ, Heidelberg, the leading German biomedical research institute dedicated to cancer research and two years at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Dr. Moebius has a PhD in immunology from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and qualified as a professor in Immunology at the University of Heidelberg.
"I am delighted to welcome Ulrich Moebius to the growing development team of MorphoSys. He combines broad academic research experience in multiple disciplines and indications with an extensive drug development expertise in a biopharmaceutical company, which will support us in our plans to expand our proprietary drug pipeline," commented Dr. Arndt Schottelius, Chief Development Officer of MorphoSys AG."
MorphoSys's expanding proprietary product development activities are funded by cash-flows from its partnered discovery business, particularly the wide-ranging strategic alliance entered into with Novartis in December 2007. MorphoSys recently announced plans to significantly broaden its proprietary therapeutic antibody pipeline in 2009 and the years ahead. At the end of 2009, the company expects a total of up to eight proprietary antibody programs ongoing, with its lead development program MOR103 in a phase 2 clinical trial and seven programs in preclinical development and discovery stage. As Head of Preclinical Development & Project Management Dr. Moebius will contribute to the entire development process of MorphoSys's proprietary antibody programs.
"I'm looking forward to working with the entire R&D team of MorphoSys to expand the Company's proprietary pipeline and move new programs from research and discovery stage through pre-clinical development and into clinical trials quickly and efficiently," commented Dr. Moebius.
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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