MorphoSys AG has entered into a cross license agreement with Eli Lilly and Company on the use of certain recombinant protein technologies. This agreement is part of a settlement to resolve patent litigation initiated by Applied Molecular Evolution (AME), a wholly owned subsidiary of Lilly, involving several US patents of the Kauffman patent family.

Under the agreement, MorphoSys receives a license under the Kauffman patent estate to generate and screen certain recombinant peptide and protein libraries and to commercialize any resulting products. Financial terms were not disclosed. The agreement also provides Lilly access to the MorphoSys HuCAL GOLD technology for Lilly\'s internal research & development programs. For any therapeutic antibodies Lilly develops under the agreement, it will pay MorphoSys exclusive licensing fees, success fees, milestone payments and royalties on end products, said a release here.

The settlement agreement covers MorphoSys’ and its partners’ past, present and future use and commercialisation of all versions of its HuCAL libraries, as well as its TRIM technology. The agreement also gives Lilly access under agreed terms to Antibodies by Design, MorphoSys\'s business unit focusing on development of custom monoclonal antibodies for non-therapeutic purposes.