MorphoSys AG announced that Schering-Plough Corporation has decided to extend the current collaboration between the two companies for one year.

The collaboration, announced in May 2006, has a maximum term of 5 years until 2011 and may be extended by Schering-Plough after each single year. Under the agreement, Schering-Plough will continue to have access to MorphoSys's proprietary antibody library HuCAL GOLD at its research site in Palo Alto, California, the location of Schering-Plough Biopharma, an affiliate of Schering-Plough Research Institute.

Furthermore, the contract provides Schering-Plough with the option to develop and commercialize HuCAL-derived therapeutic antibodies, in which case MorphoSys would receive exclusive license fees, milestone payments, as well as royalties. Under the extended agreement MorphoSys continues to receive annual user fees for access to its HuCAL platform. Further financial details were not disclosed.

"Today's news is yet another clear signal that our HuCAL technology will continue to form the basis of antibody-based drug development programmes at a number of leading pharmaceutical companies," commented Dr Simon Moroney, CEO of MorphoSys. "We are very pleased with Schering-Plough's decision to continue using our HuCAL GOLD technology for their antibody development programme".

MorphoSys is a publicly traded biotechnology company focused on the generation of fully human antibodies as a means to discover and develop innovative antibody-based drugs against life-threatening diseases.