MorphoSys AG, is one of the world's leading biotechnology companies focusing on fully human antibodies, has received a milestone payment from Novartis in connection with the clinical trial application (CTA/IND) and projected initiation of a phase I clinical trial. The HuCAL-derived, fully human antibody will be developed in the therapeutic area of cancer.

“Today's news marks the first clinical milestone for MorphoSys in 2012,” commented Dr Marlies Sproll, chief scientific officer of MorphoSys AG. “In total, our collaboration with Novartis has resulted in six clinical programmes to date, with two being evaluated in phase I and four in phase II. This excellent progress clearly underpins the success of this collaboration. Our therapeutic antibody pipeline continues to broaden and mature and is one of the broadest in the industry.”

MorphoSys's clinical pipeline now comprises twelve programs in phase I and nine in phase II development including the company's proprietary programmes MOR103, which is in a phase Ib/IIa trial for rheumatoid arthritis and a phase 1b trial in multiple sclerosis, MOR208, which is in a phase 1 trial for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and MOR202, which is in a phase I/IIa trial for multiple myeloma.

MorphoSys developed HuCAL, the most successful antibody library technology in the pharmaceutical industry. By successfully applying this and other patented technologies, MorphoSys has become a leader in the field of therapeutic antibodies, one of the fastest-growing drug classes in human healthcare.