Astellas and MorphoSys extend antibody collaboration

Astellas Pharma and MorphoSys have announced an extension to their current collaboration, guaranteeing that the partnership will run its full term to March 2012.

Under the agreement, Astellas has access to MorphoSys’ proprietary antibody library HuCAL Gold which is based at its research site in Tsukuba in Japan.

Additionally, the extension includes an option for Astellas to develop and commercialise HuCAL-delivered therapeutic antibodies.

In such a scenario, MorphoSys is eligible for exclusive licence fees, milestone payments as well as royalties.

MorphoSys also continues to receive annual user fees from Astellas for the access of its HuCAL platform.

Dr Simon Moroney, chief executive officer of MorphoSys, expressed the company’s delight in seeing the “successful progress” of the collaboration in which Astellas will continue to use its HuCAL Gold technology for antibody therapeutic programmes.

“Today’s news is a clear signal that our HuCAL technology will continue to be the basis of drug-development programmes at a number of companies throughout the global pharmaceutical industry,” he indicated.

Earlier this month, Astellas published its financial results for the first three quarters of 2007, with the company reporting consolidated net sales for the nine months at 765.2 billion yen (3.6 billion pounds).