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news.Galapagos, a drug discovery company, and MorphoSys, a biotechnology company, have launched a long term co-development alliance aimed at discovering and developing antibody therapies based on novel modes of action in bone and joint disease, including rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis and osteoarthritis.
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The alliance spans all activities from target discovery through to completion of proof of concept clinical trials of novel therapeutic antibodies. Both companies will contribute their core technologies and expertise to the alliance. Galapagos will provide antibody targets implicated in bone and joint disease in addition to its adenoviral target discovery platform to discover further targets for antibody development. MorphoSys will contribute its HuCAL antibody technologies to generate fully human antibodies directed against these targets.
The initial goal is to further validate the targets through disease-specific in vitro and in vivo testing of the antibodies. After successful validation, the alliance will select antibody programs for pre-clinical and clinical development. Following proof of concept in human clinical trials, programs will be partnered for subsequent development, approval and marketing.
Under the terms of the agreement, Galapagos and MorphoSys will share the R&D costs, as well as all future revenues equally.
Decisions will be made by a joint steering committee comprising members of both companies. An initial set of three targets implicated in bone & joint disease has been selected for the collaboration, and Galapagos is already commencing with production of these proteins for the alliance. Generation of antibodies directed against these targets will start in 2009.
Simon Moroney, CEO of MorphoSys, said: The partnership with Galapagos combines both the scientific and financial strength of two companies in their space. We are excited to combine our broad antibody expertise with Galapagos’s target discovery capabilities and disease know-how to form a successful partnership.
The access to novel disease-related target molecules from a renowned partner accelerates the expansion of our proprietary antibody pipeline. This alliance also complements our development efforts in the field of inflammation and arthritis including our lead program MOR103.