Corporate | 16 August 2004 07:45

MorphoSys and Boehringer Ingelheim Start New Antibody Program

Corporate-news announcement sent by DGAP. The sender is solely responsible for the contents of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– MorphoSys and Boehringer Ingelheim Start New Antibody Program MorphoSys AG (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: MOR; Prime Standard Segment) and Boehringer Ingelheim announced today the start of a new program with MorphoSys for the development of a therapeutic antibody against an undisclosed target molecule involved in cardiovascular diseases. MorphoSys will generate this antibody using its proprietary HuCAL GOLD(R) technology. Boehringer Ingelheim will carry out the pre-clinical and clinical development, as well as subsequent marketing of all resulting products. MorphoSys will participate in the successful progress of the project, receiving milestone payments and royalties. The initiation of the new antibody program between Boehringer Ingelheim and MorphoSys was made in the context of the mutual cooperation and license agreement signed in February 2003. Under this agreement, MorphoSys received the exclusive, global license for certain patents owned by Boehringer Ingelheim. These patent rights related to the development, production and sale of therapeutic and diagnostic antibodies against a target molecule, ICAM-1. ICAM-1 is the basis for MorphoSys’ proprietary product programs MOR101 and MOR102, which are intended for the treatment of inflammatory diseases such as psoriasis and dermal burns. In return for this consideration, Boehringer Ingelheim was granted the option to develop two therapeutic antibodies using MorphoSys’ HuCAL(R) technology and exercised its first therapeutic antibody program option in November 2003. Today’s announcement represents the exercise of Boehringer Ingelheim’s second option for the development of a therapeutic antibody using the HuCAL(R) technology of MorphoSys. “We are pleased to initiate this second antibody program in the MorphoSys collaboration to identify a unique therapeutic antibody to this important cardiovascular target”, commented Dr. Andreas Barner, Member of the Board of Managing Directors of Boehringer Ingelheim and responsible for Research, Development and Medicine. “The MorphoSys collaboration has been progressing successfully with the first antibody target and we look forward to continuing to use the advantages of the MorphoSys HuCAL(R) technology to identify an innovative New Biological Entity for this second target.” “We are pleased by Boehringer Ingelheim’s sustained commitment to our HuCAL(R) technology”, stated Dr. Simon Moroney, Chief Executive Officer of MorphoSys AG. “This cooperation is a model for how we can use our technology as currency to acquire rights to promising target molecules and, at the same time, extend our growing pipeline of therapeutic antibody programs.” 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), Novartis AG (Basel, Switzerland), Novoplant GmbH (Gatersleben/Germany), 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/ . Boehringer Ingelheim The Boehringer Ingelheim Corporation is one of the world’s 20 leading pharmaceutical companies. Headquartered in Ingelheim, Germany, it operates globally with 152 affiliates in 44 countries and a total of about 34,000 employees. Since it was founded in 1885, the family-owned company has been committed to researching, manufacturing and marketing novel products of high therapeutic value for human and veterinary medicine. In 2003, Boehringer Ingelheim posted net sales of 7.4 billion euro while spending about one fifth of net sales in its largest business segment Prescription Medicines on research and development. Boehringer Ingelheim has five Research and Development Centers worldwide with almost 5,000 scientists and experts. For further information about Boehringer Ingelheim please visit < http://www.boehringer-ingelheim.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, Director 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 16.08.2004 ——————————————————————————– WKN: 663200; ISIN: DE0006632003; Index: Nemax 50 Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin- Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, München und Stuttgart 160745 Aug 04