Recombinant Anti-Idiotype Antibodies as Important Research and Drug Development Tools
MorphoSys AG (FSE: MOR; Prime Standard Segment, TecDAX) announced today that its research and diagnostic antibody unit AbD Serotec is active in a new growth area. AbD Serotec is increasingly providing anti-idiotype antibodies against existing antibody drugs and drug candidates to accompany their preclinical and clinical development. AbD Serotec already provides anti-idiotype antibodies to several international pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Additionally, anti-idiotype antibodies produced by AbD Serotec are being used in-house to support MorphoSys's proprietary development programs in cancer and inflammatory diseases.
The growing number of therapeutic antibodies in clinical development is driving the demand for tools to monitor their concentration and behavior in patients, including critical parameters such as pharmacokinetics and immunogenicity. Since the majority of antibody-based drug candidates in clinical trials today is fully human, the detection tools must differentiate between the drug and other antibodies present in patient serum or plasma samples. HuCAL-based anti-idiotype antibodies are ideal tools to detect the respective drug candidate with very high sensitivity. With its fully recombinant HuCAL technology, AbD Serotec can provide these tools quickly, allowing their customers to develop assays for non-clinical and clinical samples in a very short time frame. The HuCAL platform delivers fully human antibodies, a key factor for immunogenicity assays. At the same time, the antibodies have a high affinity for their targets, which is a prerequisite to reach the necessary sensitivity in a final assay.
'We see tools supporting preclinical research and clinical trials as a real growth opportunity, in which we can deliver solutions with our cutting-edge antibody technology', commented Dieter Feger, Head of AbD Serotec. 'The use of recombinant technology is a major advantage that positions us well in this growing market'.
'Anti-idiotype antibodies represent an important synergy between our therapeutic and non-therapeutic business units', commented Dr. Arndt Schottelius, Chief Development Officer of MorphoSys AG. 'AbD Serotec now broadly supports our proprietary development programs, providing high quality analytical tools with excellent sensitivity for our pre-clinical and clinical work'.
About MorphoSys:
MorphoSys is an independent biotechnology company that develops novel antibodies for therapeutic, diagnostic and research applications. The Company's HuCAL technology is one of the most powerful methods available for generating fully human antibodies. By successfully applying this and other proprietary technologies, MorphoSys has become a leader in the field of therapeutic antibodies, one of the fastest-growing drug classes in human health-care. Through its alliances with some of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, MorphoSys has created a pipeline of more than 60 drug candidates. The Company is expanding its drug pipeline by adding new partnered programs, and by building a portfolio of fully-owned therapeutic antibodies. For its proprietary portfolio, the Company is focused on the areas of oncology and inflammation. Its most advanced program MOR103, a first-in-class, fully human antibody against GM-CSF, is currently tested in a Phase Ib/IIa trial in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Via its business unit AbD Serotec, MorphoSys is expanding the reach of its technologies in the diagnostics and research markets. MorphoSys is headquartered in Munich, Germany and listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol 'MOR'. For further information, visit http://www.morphosys.com/
HuCAL®, HuCAL GOLD®, HuCAL PLATINUM®, CysDisplay® and RapMAT® are registered trademarks of MorphoSys AG.