BIOLOGICS
New technology accelerates antibody optimisation and therapeutic development
MorphoSys AG’s arYlatechnology combines the company’s HuCAL technology for in-vitro generation of highly specific and fully human antibodies with its recently acquired Slonomics technology, a ligation-based strategy that generates double-stranded DNA building blocks, to accelerate antibody optimisation and generate superior therapeutic and diagnostic candidates faster and more cost-effectively.
ounded in 1992 and headquartered near Munich, Germany, MorphoSys AG specialises in the generation of human therapeutic antibodies as well as antibodies for research and diagnostics. During its early years, the company focused on developing technology based on work carried out by Professor Andreas Plückthun at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry and created its Human Combinatorial Antibody Library, or HuCAL for short. Dr Simon Moroney, CEO of MorphoSys, was a member of the company’s founding team.
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Human antibody technology MorphoSys’ HuCAL technology is a platform for the in vitro generation of highly specific and fully human antibodies. The library is a collection of several billion distinct fully human antibodies that allows for the rapid selection of antibodies with high affinity and specificity. A unique feature of the library is its modularity, which enables systematic and rapid optimisation of antibody properties. The technology is now a proven source of antibody drug candidates.
MorphoSys entered its first commercial partnership based on HuCAL with Pharmacia-Upjohn in 1997. With the first HuCAL patent granted in 2000, the company concentrated on further developing and commercialising its core technology platform. The company now has partnerships and programmes in clinical development with major pharmaceutical and biotech companies including Bayer, Centocor, OncoMed, Pfizer and Roche, amongst others, and its most extensive partnership is with Novartis.
Business segments and operations MorphoSys operates in three different segments: The Partnered Discovery segment develops drug candidates for commercial partners. Upfront payments at signature, annual licence payments in exchange for
access to MorphoSys’ technologies, development-dependent milestone payments, and royalties on product sales are standard components of these agreements. MorphoSys has partnerships with several renowned biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, involving more than 60 distinct therapeutic programmes.
MorphoSys’ Proprietary Development segment is focused on developing proprietary therapeutic antibody candidates in cancer, inflammation and infectious diseases. So far, three proprietary programmes are in clinical development: MOR103, a HuCAL antibody directed against GM-CSF, a target for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, currently being tested in a Phase 1b/2a trial in patients with rheumatoid arthritis; MOR202, a HuCAL antibody currently being studied in a Phase 1/2a trial in multiple myeloma patients, targeting CD38; and MOR208, a humanised monoclonal antibody in-licensed from Xencor in 2010. It is directed against CD19, which is broadly expressed on B cells and therefore a promising target for B cell malignancies as
well as some autoimmune diseases. MOR208 is currently in a clinical Phase 1 study in patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The company’s third business segment, AbD Serotec, delivers high-quality antibodies to the research community and diagnostic companies. “Financially speaking, the fact that our partnered business and AbD Serotec generate cash to finance our product development activities is a key differentiating factor when compared to other biopharmaceutical companies,” says Moroney. “Proprietary products are the biggest value driver in our industry, and the demand for new therapeutics from pharmaceutical companies is enormous.”
Combined technology for antibody optimisation
Last November, MorphoSys announced the introduction of its latest technology arYla, designed to provide new ways of optimising therapeutic and diagnostic antibodies. The arYla technology results from the combined
Purification of an antibody in one of MorphoSys’ protein chemistry labs. November/December 2011 sp2 23
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