MARTINSRIED, GERMANY and MUNICH, GERMANY--(Marketwire - September 01, 2011) - MorphoSys AG (FSE: MOR; Prime Standard Segment, TecDAX) announced today that the
first patient in a Phase 1/2a clinical trial of its cancer antibody
MOR202 has
been dosed. MOR202 is a fully human HuCAL antibody directed against
CD38, a
therapeutic target which is highly expressed on multiple myeloma tumor
cells and
certain leukemias. The phase 1/2a, open-label, multi-centre, dose-
escalation
study will evaluate the safety and preliminary efficacy of MOR202 in
patients
with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.
"We will evaluate MOR202 both as a monotherapy and in combination with
standard
therapy. I am very pleased that this program has been brought
forward so
successfully by our development team over the past months and now
represents
another valuable clinical asset in our portfolio. In total, this is our
third
proprietary antibody program in clinical trials, following MOR103 in
rheumatoid
arthritis and MOR208 in chronic lymphocytic leukemia," commented Dr.
Arndt
Schottelius, Chief Development Officer of MorphoSys AG.
Patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma will be treated
with
different doses of the HuCAL-derived antibody MOR202. It is also
planned to
evaluate the safety of MOR202 in combination with approved therapy. Pre-
clinical
studies recently presented at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American
Society of
Clinical Oncology (ASCO) demonstrated enhanced cytotoxic activity of
MOR202 in
combination with Velcade(®) and Revlimid(®), supporting the
clinical trial design.
In total, the clinical trial* is anticipated to enroll a maximum of 82
patients
and will be conducted in several centers in Germany and Austria. The
primary
endpoints of the trial are to determine the safety and tolerability of
multiple
doses of MOR202 in patients. Secondary outcome measures will
evaluate
pharmacokinetics and preliminary efficacy.
More information on the trial can be found by searching for
MorphoSys at
http://clinicaltrials.gov.
*Supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part
of
Munich's leading edge cluster m4 - Personalized medicine and targeted
therapies
About MorphoSys:
MorphoSys is an independent biotechnology company that develops novel
antibodies
for therapeutic, diagnostic and research applications. The Company's HuCAL
technology is one of the most powerful methods available for generating
fully
human antibodies. By successfully applying this and other proprietary
technologies, MorphoSys has become a leader in the field of therapeutic
antibodies, one of the fastest-growing drug classes in human health-care.
Through its alliances with some of the world's leading pharmaceutical
companies,
MorphoSys has created a pipeline of more than 60 drug candidates. The
Company is
expanding its drug pipeline by adding new partnered programs, and by
building a
portfolio of fully-owned therapeutic antibodies. For its proprietary
portfolio,
the Company is focused on the areas of oncology and inflammation. Its most
advanced program MOR103, a first-in-class, fully human antibody against GM-
CSF,
is currently being tested in a Phase Ib/IIa trial in rheumatoid arthritis
patients. Via its business unit AbD Serotec, MorphoSys is expanding the
reach of
its technologies in the diagnostics and research markets. MorphoSys is
headquartered in Munich, Germany and listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange
under the symbol "MOR". For further information,
visithttp://www.morphosys.com
HuCAL®, HuCAL GOLD®, HuCAL PLATINUM®, CysDisplay®
and RapMAT® are
registered trademarks of MorphoSys; arYla™ is a trademark of MorphoSys.
This communication contains certain forward-looking statements
concerning the
MorphoSys group of companies. The forward-looking statements contained
herein
represent the judgment of MorphoSys as of the date of this release and
involve
risks and uncertainties. Should actual conditions differ from the
Company's
assumptions, actual results and actions may differ from those
anticipated.
MorphoSys does not intend to update any of these forward-looking
statements as
far as the wording of the relevant press release is concerned.
--- End of Message ---
MorphoSys AG
Lena-Christ-Str. 48 Martinsried / München Germany
WKN: 663200;ISIN: DE0006632003;Index:TecDAX,CDAX,Prime All Share,TECH All
Share,HDAX,MIDCAP;
Listed: Freiverkehr in Börse Stuttgart,
Freiverkehr in Hanseatische Wertpapierbörse zu Hamburg,
Freiverkehr in Börse Berlin,
Freiverkehr in Börse Düsseldorf,
Freiverkehr in Bayerische Börse München,
Freiverkehr in Niedersächsische Börse zu Hannover,
Prime Standard in Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse,
Regulierter Markt in Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse;
Media Release:
http://hugin.info/130295/R/1543179/472638.pdf
This announcement is distributed by Thomson Reuters on behalf of
Thomson Reuters clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that:
(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and
other applicable laws; and
(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and
originality of the information contained therein.
Source: MorphoSys AG via Thomson Reuters ONE
[HUG#1543179]