In December 2000, MorphoSys and Centocor entered a collaboration to develop fully human antibodies in a wide range of therapeutic indications. This agreement was extended for another three years in December 2004. Within the scope of the collaboration, Centocor has access to HuCAL GOLD® for the development of therapeutic antibodies as well as for research purposes. Additionally, Centocor uses AutoCAL(TM), the MorphoSys-developed system for automated screening of the HuCAL® antibody library. Since the start of the collaboration MorphoSys has achieved four performance-related milestones to date.
'Today’s announcement marks the start of yet another program in our successful collaboration with Centocor,' commented Dr. Simon Moroney, Chief Executive Officer of MorphoSys AG. 'In this long-standing partnership, scientists from the two companies are building a broad pipeline of HuCAL®-based therapeutic antibodies.'