MorphoSys AG has signed an agreement with Lonza Biologics for production and supply of clinical grade antibody drugs derived from MorphoSys HuCAL technology within the next five years. The agreement regulates access to Lonza's process development and manufacturing capacity for future antibody projects for both MorphoSys' own and partnered therapeutic antibody projects. Financial details were not disclosed.

MorphoSys plans to partner its current proprietary therapeutic antibody projects before entering clinical trials.MorphoSys will offer its partners manufacturing capacities at Lonza, and thereby increasing the value of its preclinical deals.

"This is an important component of our future partnering strategy," said Dr. Thomas von Ruden, Chief Scientific Officer, MorphoSys AG."The access to manufacturing capacities will significantly increase the value of MorphoSys antibody programs."

"We are very happy to be working with MorphoSys on these early clinical development programmes", said Marcus Gemuend, CEO of Lonza Group. "Lonza Biologics wants to continue to service biopharmaceutical companies needs at every stage in the development of their products.We recognize the importance of these projects to our customers and want to work with them to maximize their future success."