Deal Strengthens AbD Serotec's Position as Primary Source of Reagents for Studying the Innate Immune System
MorphoSys AG (FSE: MOR; Prime Standard Segment, TecDAX) announced today that its research and diagnostic antibodies unit AbD Serotec has signed a license agreement with VU University Medical Center (VUmc), which provides AbD Serotec with worldwide exclusive rights to commercialize a number of antibody clones for research applications. These include the world's most widely used reagents for studying macrophage subsets in rats, the 'ED series' of antibodies.
The antibodies are key reagents for studying various cell types and processes which play a central role in the innate immune system. The innate immune system forms an initial line of defense against diverse invading foreign pathogens and damaged or infected host cells. It acts through a variety of primitive and more advanced mechanisms, including the complement cascade, pattern recognition receptors, and macrophages to identify and target foreign intruders. In addition, it initiates the host's adaptive immune response via antigen presentation by dendritic cells. The original paper on the ED antibodies is a key publication in the field being cited over 1,600 times.
'In line with our strategy to achieve a market-leading position in key focus areas, we have decided to further expand our offering in innate immunity research and take an exclusive manufacturing license for a range of ED antibody clones from the VU University Medical Center,' commented Dieter Feger, Head of AbD Serotec. 'AbD Serotec already provides an extensive collection of antibodies for studying the activities and actions of the innate immune system, all manufactured to highest quality standards and guaranteed for use in important applications such as flow cytometry and western blotting.'
AbD Serotec has launched a new website area summarizing its offering of performance-guaranteed antibodies and reagents focused on macrophages and dendritic cells, toll-like receptors, pattern recognition receptors, natural killer cell markers, and the complement cascade. For further information, visit www.abdserotec.com