MorphoSys is expected to provide relevant antigen and antibody molecules, while Proteros is expected to provide advanced x-ray technology and computational chemistry know-how.
MorphoSys and Proteros claimed that the high resolution access to antibody-antigen-complex structures is expected to allow a faster and efficient engineering of therapeutic antibodies.
In the first project, the two companies are expected to analyse MorphoSys’s proprietary clinical anti-inflammatory antibody MOR103, a fully human HuCAL antibody directed against GM-CSF (granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor), being developed in the area of inflammatory diseases, for example rheumatoid arthritis, and the binding properties to its corresponding antigen GM-CSF.
The program is currently being evaluated in a European clinical Phase 1b/2a trial in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis.
MorphoSys chief scientific officer Marlies Sproll said that early clarification of the precise interaction between antibody and antigen is very valuable information in drug discovery, as it can help in identifying the promising candidate or in generating improved follow-up compounds by directed molecular evolution.
"Within the research program we’ll bring together MorphoSys’s antibody expertise and Proteros’s structure solution know-how to tackle challenges in crystallising whole IgG molecules," Sproll said.
Proteros CEO Torsten Neuefeind said that the analysis of antibody-antigen interaction at atomic resolution efficiently guides the further evolution of antibodies.
"In the joint program, a technology platform will be developed which combines the strengths of combinatorial biology and rational structure guided approaches," Neuefeind said.