MorphoSys Announces Clinical Milestone in Oncology Program


MARTINSRIED / MUNICH, Germany, Dec. 22, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MorphoSys AG (FSE:MOR; Prime Standard Segment, TecDAX, OTC: MPSYY) announced today that it has received a milestone payment from Novartis in connection with the initiation of a phase 1 clinical trial of a HuCAL antibody in the field of oncology. This becomes the tenth therapeutic antibody made using MorphoSys's technologies that Novartis is evaluating in clinical trials. The associated milestone payment is booked in 2014.

"In 2014 our pipeline, and our collaborators' pipelines of therapeutic antibodies have matured significantly and now include more programs in clinical trials and in a more advanced state than ever before. Today's news represents the fourth clinical milestone with our partners during the course of the year," commented Dr. Marlies Sproll, Chief Scientific Officer of MorphoSys AG.

MorphoSys's collaboration with Novartis has resulted in ten clinical programs to date, five of which are in phase 1 development, with another four programs in phase 2 and one in phase 3. In total, MorphoSys's partnered and proprietary clinical pipeline currently comprises 22 unique antibody molecules which are being evaluated in more than 60 clinical trials.

About MorphoSys:

MorphoSys developed HuCAL, the most successful antibody library technology in the pharmaceutical industry. By successfully applying this and other patented technologies, MorphoSys has become a leader in the field of therapeutic antibodies, one of the fastest-growing drug classes in human healthcare.
Together with its pharmaceutical partners, MorphoSys has built a therapeutic pipeline of more than 90 human antibody drug candidates for the treatment of cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and Alzheimer's disease, to name just a few. With its ongoing commitment to new antibody technology and drug development, MorphoSys is focused on making the healthcare products of tomorrow. MorphoSys is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol MOR. For regular updates about MorphoSys, visit http://www.morphosys.com

HuCAL®, HuCAL GOLD®, HuCAL PLATINUM®, CysDisplay®, RapMAT®, arYla® and Ylanthia® and 100 billion high potentials® are registered trademarks of MorphoSys AG.

Slonomics® is a registered trademark of Sloning BioTechnology GmbH, a subsidiary 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.

For more information, please contact:

MorphoSys AG
Dr. Claudia Gutjahr-Löser
Head of Corporate Communications & IR

Mario Brkulj
Associate Director Corporate Communications & IR

Alexandra Goller
Specialist Corporate Communications & IR

Jessica Rush
Specialist Corporate Communications & IR

Tel: +49 (0) 89 / 899 27-404
investors@morphosys.com

Media Release (PDF) http://hugin.info/130295/R/1882093/663980.pdf

HUG#1882093