MorphoSys AG has signed a second licensing agreement with Dutch biotechnology company Crucell NV relating to the PER.C6 cell line to be used in the development of the a drug candidate for the treatment of inflammatory diseases.
Subscribe to our email newsletter
This license agreement allows MorphoSys to use the PER.C6 cell line in the production of clinical grade material for the development of its proprietary therapeutic antibody program MOR103. MOR103 is a fully human HuCAL antibody, developed in the area of inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis. Financial details were not disclosed.
Additionally, MorphoSys has signed a biopharmaceutical manufacturing agreement with DSM Biologics to produce the clinical grade material in its FDA-approved facilities in Groningen, the Netherlands.
“Today’s news shows that MorphoSys’s MOR103 program is on track towards the next development stage – the filing of an IND in the second half of 2007,” commented Dr Marlies Sproll, chief scientific officer of MorphoSys. “This collaboration brings together a fully human antibody to treat inflammatory diseases with production capabilities in the same fully-human environment.”