Morphotek, Inc., a subsidiary of Eisai Inc., announced that the company has entered into a sponsored research agreement (SRA) with Hokkaido University to evaluate the anti-tumourr effect of amatuximab (MORAb-009) for advanced pancreatic cancer. Funding from this grant will support a pre-clinical study to evaluate the potential of amatuximab alone and in combination with gemcitabine in an adjuvant setting.

Amatuximab (MORAb-009) is a monoclonal antibody that binds mesothelin, a cell surface protein on pancreatic, mesothelioma and a subset of other types of tumour cells. Mesothelin has been demonstrated by several independent studies to be expressed on virtually all mesothelioma tumours.

"Pancreatic cancer can be a devastating disease, because it is commonly discovered at an advanced stage; in its earliest stages it is typically asymptomatic," said Nicholas Nicolaides, president and CEO of Morphotek. "We are hopeful that the data may bring us one step closer to providing hope for these patients; further exemplifying our human health care (hhc) mission to satisfy unmet medical needs and increase the benefits to patients, their caregivers and families."

Morphotek, Inc., a subsidiary of Eisai Inc., is a biopharmaceutical company specializing in the development of protein and antibody products through the use of a novel and proprietary gene evolution technology.

Eisai Inc. was established in 1995 and is ranked among the top-20 US pharmaceutical companies (based on retail sales). The company began marketing its first product in the United States in 1997 and has rapidly grown to become a fully integrated pharmaceutical business with fiscal year 2009 (year ended March 31, 2010) sales of approximately $3.9 billion.