MorphoSys Reaches Milestone with Bayer

12-Feb-2001

MorphoSys (Neuer Markt: MOR), the Munich-based bio-pharmaceutical company, today announced the achievement of the first milestone in the therapeutic part of its collaboration with Bayer. The milestone, the delivery of a tailored, high affinity HuCALâ antibody for an undisclosed target, triggered a payment from Bayer. The antibody will now move into pre-clinical development at Bayer, which could lead to further milestone as well as royalty payments to MorphoSys. In addition, Bayer exercised an option for the development of a HuCALâ antibody against another target molecule, triggering an additional payment. Financial details were not disclosed.

The milestone caps a very successful first year of the collaboration. Under the terms of the agreement, the MorphoSys HuCALâ technology has been installed at Bayer sites in Berkeley, California, as well as in Wuppertal, Germany. In addition to the efforts in the development of therapeutic antibodies, scientists from both companies have successfully applied the MorphoSys HuCALâ technology to a number of research programs for the validation of target molecules.

"The first year of our collaboration has been very productive", said Dr. Thomas von Rueden, Chief Scientific Officer of MorphoSys AG. "Our HuCALâ technology has been applied successfully in a number of programs, and we hope this milestone to be the first of many."

Professor Dr. Wolf-Dieter Busse, Head of Bayer’s Biotechnology Business in Berkeley, California, added: "Our success confirms our expectations for HuCALâ. The MorphoSys technology is the principal element in our strategy to develop antibody-based products, and a very important tool in our characterization of new target molecules."

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/1256/morphosys-reaches-milestone-with-bayer.html