Business Development
The following partnerships were established, expanded or concluded in the first quarter of 2009:
Therapeutic Antibodies Segment
Genesis Research
MorphoSys and New Zealand-based Genesis Research and Development Corporation Ltd. announced the signing of a collaboration in October 2007. Under the terms of the agreement, Genesis used HuCAL-based antibodies originally generated by the MorphoSys business unit AbD Serotec against the human fibroblast growth factor receptor FGFR5 for target validation and preclinical studies as part of its proprietary Zyrogen program. Based on the scientific data generated by Genesis during the collaboration, MorphoSys has decided against using its option to co-develop this compound.
AbD Segment
Co-Marketing Agreement with BBInternational
AbD Serotec and UK-based BBInternational have signed a co-marketing agreement. Within the scope of this agreement the parties agree to co-market each others products and services to their worldwide customer bases. The agreement will allow BBI customers access to more than 13,000 antibodies and immunological reagents, custom monoclonal antibodies developed from the MorphoSys HuCAL library, and large and small scale antibody production and conjugation services from AbD Serotec. AbD Serotec antibody customers will have the advantage of direct access to BBI’s complementary range of services for production of gold-labeled reagents, contract research and development, and manufacture of rapid diagnostic tests for the Point-of-Care markets.