Ingelheim and Martinsried/Munich, February 18, 2005
Boehringer Ingelheim and MorphoSys AG (Frankfurt: MOR; Prime Standard Segment, TecDAX) announced today an expansion of their existing cooperation involving both research and therapeutic applications. Under the new contract, Boehringer Ingelheim has acquired an option to receive several exclusive licenses on new therapeutic antibody programs. The two companies presently have two therapeutic antibody programs in joint collaboration. Additionally, Boehringer Ingelheim will obtain access to MorphoSys’ HuCAL GOLD® library for research purposes at a number of the firm’s research facilities. The first installation site is intended to be Boehringer Ingelheim’s site in Vienna, Austria. MorphoSys will receive a technology access fee, annual license fees and optional R&D funding over the five-year collaboration term. For therapeutic antibodies emerging from the collaboration, Boehringer Ingelheim will pay milestone fees and royalties to MorphoSys. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.Since February 2003, Boehringer Ingelheim and MorphoSys have been working jointly on the development of therapeutic antibodies using MorphoSys’ HuCAL® technology.
“The extended collaboration with MorphoSys will strengthen our capability to generate innovative human monoclonal antibodies and to discover new therapeutic entities,” said Mikael Dolsten, Head of Corporate Research at Boehringer Ingelheim. “We are very pleased to continue this collaboration with the aim of providing novel future biological treatment options for patients suffering from cancer, immune, inflammatory and other severe human diseases.”
“We are very pleased about the continued commitment shown by our partner, Boehringer Ingelheim, to extensive use of our HuCAL GOLD® technology,” stated Dr. Simon Moroney, Chief Executive Officer of MorphoSys AG. “Alongside the two antibody programs already being actively pursued as part of our partnership, this new agreement significantly expands the research applications of our technology, and promises to lead to additional therapeutic projects in the future.”
About Boehringer Ingelheim: The Boehringer Ingelheim group is one of the world’s 20 leading pharmaceutical companies. Headquartered in Ingelheim, Germany, it operates globally with 152 affiliates in 45 countries and more than 34,000 employees. Since it was founded in 1885, the family-owned company has been committed to researching, developing, 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 more than one fifth of net sales in its largest business segment Prescription Medicines on research and development. For more information please visit www.boehringer-ingelheim.com