Martinsried/Munich, Germany, and Tokyo, Japan, September 23, 2004
MorphoSys AG (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: MOR; Prime Standard Segment) announced today that it has formed a strategic marketing cooperation with the Tokyo-based company, GeneFrontier Corporation, in order to access the Japanese life science market. The objective of the cooperation is to drive new business opportunities by establishing the HuCAL® technology of MorphoSys as the premium brand for both research and therapeutic antibody generation in Japan. As part of an ongoing pre-marketing agreement between the two companies, several research projects conducted with Japanese partners have been successfully completed. Under the multi-year collaboration, both parties will invest in customer development and marketing in Japan as part of a wider MorphoSys effort to expand geographically into new markets.As a result of the recently concluded Human Genome Project, the spotlight in biomedical research is shifting rapidly from the genome to proteome-based projects as the key to transform genetic information into pharmaceutical products. The proliferation of these projects is driving an increasing demand for novel research antibodies to study these newly characterized proteins. Moreover, for validated targets which are suitable for therapeutic applications, MorphoSys HuCAL GOLD® technology provides a seamless transition from a rapidly generated research antibody to a fully human optimized antibody drug candidate. Thus, MorphoSys sees the potential to position its HuCAL® technology as the system of choice for future therapeutic antibody projects conducted by pharmaceutical companies in Japan.
“Both partners see an enormous market potential for research and therapeutic antibodies derived from MorphoSys’s HuCAL® technology, especially in the light of strong financial commitment from the Japanese government to protein research and its therapeutic applications,” commented Mr. Makoto Ogasawara, Chief Executive Officer of GeneFrontier Corp. “Japan, presently the second largest pharmaceutical market in the world, is seeking new innovative technologies in life sciences to continue on its growth path.”
“This collaboration is an important step in our strategy to establish HuCAL® globally as an industry standard for therapeutic antibody generation, as well as research tools,” commented Dr. Simon Moroney, Chief Executive Officer of MorphoSys AG. “We look forward to working with GeneFrontier to expand our business in the lucrative Japanese market.”