Under the agreement, Daiichi Sankyo has committed to start one therapeutic antibody program with MorphoSys and will receive an option for further programs. During the initial two-years, Daiichi will have access to the HuCAL Gold library and MorphoSys will apply its proprietary HuCAL Gold technology to generate antibodies against a target provided by Daiichi.
Subsequently, Daiichi will be responsible for preclinical and clinical development, as well as the ensuing marketing of resulting products. MorphoSys stands to receive an upfront payment and research funding, plus licensing and milestone payments, as well as royalties on end-product sales.
If extended after the initial two-year period, the contract provides Daiichi with access to additional MorphoSys capabilities, such as target validation, antibody optimization and preclinical development. Such an extension would trigger an additional upfront payment and result in increased research funding for MorphoSys. Further financial details were not disclosed.
HuCAL Gold is the latest and most powerful antibody library developed by MorphoSys. The technology utilizes a unique concept for the in vitro generation of highly specific and fully human antibodies. It is ideally suited for a broad range of purposes reaching from target validation to drug development.