MorphoSys AG — Regulatory Filings 2004

Mar 8, 2004

News Details

Corporate | 8 March 2004 07:45

MorphoSys Enters New Antibody Program With Centocor

Corporate-news announcement sent by DGAP. The sender is solely responsible for the contents of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– MorphoSys Enters New Antibody Program With Centocor MorphoSys AG (Frankfurt: MOR; Prime Standard Segment), the Munich-based biotechnology company, today announced that within the scope of its collaboration with Centocor Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, Centocor has elected a new target molecule involved in auto-immune diseases, against which MorphoSys will generate antibodies using its proprietary HuCAL GOLD(R) technology. Centocor will carry out pre-clinical and clinical development and subsequent marketing of resulting products. In exchange, MorphoSys stands to receive licensing and milestone payments, in addition to royalties. Financial terms were not disclosed. In December 2000, MorphoSys and Centocor entered a collaboration to develop fully human antibodies in a wide range of therapeutic indications. Within the scope of the collaboration, Centocor has an option on up to 30 therapeutic target molecules against which the partners will make optimized fully human antibodies using MorphoSys’ proprietary HuCAL(R) technology. In March 2002, the existing partnership was expanded when Centocor ordered AutoCALTM, the MorphoSys-developed system for automated screening of the HuCAL(R) antibody library. Since the start of the collaboration MorphoSys generated two HuCAL(R) antibodies meeting pre-agreed success criteria. “We welcome the opportunity to expand on our partnership with Centocor by adding this new program,” commented Dr. Simon Moroney, CEO of MorphoSys. “This marks a further step in execution of our strategy to maximize the number of products based on our proprietary technology and underscores the potential of our technology to generate promising drug candidates.” 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 (HuCALâ) technology is used by researchers worldwide for human antibody generation. The Company currently has licensing and research collaborations with Bayer (Berkeley, California/USA), Biogen Idec Inc. (Cambridge, Massachusetts/USA), Boehringer Ingelheim (Ingelheim, Germany), Bristol-Myers Squibb (Wilmington, Delaware/USA), Centocor Inc. (Malvern, Pennsylvania/USA), GPC Biotech AG (Munich/Germany), Hoffmann-La Roche AG (Basel/Switzerland), ImmunoGen Inc. (Cambridge, Massachusetts/USA), Oridis Biomed GmbH (Graz/Austria), Pfizer Inc. (Delaware/USA), ProChon Biotech Ltd. (Rehovot/Israel), Schering AG (Berlin/Germany) and Xoma Ltd. (Berkeley, California/USA). 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. For more information, please contact MorphoSys: Dr. Claudia Gutjahr-Löser, Manager Corporate Communications, Tel. +49 (0)89 89927 122, gutjahr@morphosys.com / Mario Brkulj, PR Specialist, Tel. +49 (0)89 89927 454, brkulj@morphosys.com end of message, (c)DGAP 08.03.2004 ——————————————————————————– WKN: 663200; ISIN: DE0006632003; Index: Nemax 50 Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin- Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, München und Stuttgart 080745 Mär 04