MARTINSRIED, Germany, Sept. 26, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- MorphoSys AG (Frankfurt:MOR) (Prime Standard Segment) announced today that the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has granted a fifth U.S. patent stemming from MorphoSys's base HuCAL (Human Combinatorial Antibody Library) patent family, providing extended protection to MorphoSys's core technology. The new patent (US 7,264,963) captures HuCAL's modular design at the DNA level, providing solid product claim protection in the U.S.
MorphoSys' HuCAL libraries comprise highly diverse, fully human synthetic antibodies that are highly engineerable through their modular CDR design. Its most advanced marketed version, HuCAL GOLD, in combination with MorphoSys's proprietary phage display technology, CysDisplay(r), provide rapid access to fully human antibodies as research tools, diagnostics and therapeutics. A first HuCAL patent, which is now complemented by the new patent, was issued by the U.S. Patent Office in 2001. HuCAL patents have been granted in the United States, in Australia and at the European Patent Office. To date, MorphoSys has had more than fifteen granted patents and has more than 40 applications pending worldwide.
"This new patent provides us with another solid layer of protection of our proprietary core technology, HuCAL, in the United States, a further example of the pioneering nature of HuCAL. We will carry on with this process, continuing to build a strong intellectual property portfolio around HuCAL and our other antibody-related technologies," commented Dr. Simon Moroney, Chief Executive Officer of MorphoSys AG.
HuCAL(r) and HuCAL GOLD(r) are registered trademarks of MorphoSys AG
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 Bayer-Schering, Boehringer Ingelheim, Centocor/Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Pfizer and Roche.Within these partnerships, more than 40 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/
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.