Parking some history...
SAN DIEGO, Dec. 21 (1999) /PRNewswire/ -- Biosite Discovery, the collaborative antibody development program of Biosite(R) Diagnostics Incorporated (Nasdaq: BSTE), has yielded its fifth collaboration. According to Kim Blickenstaff, Biosite president and chief executive officer, Biosite has signed an agreement with MorphoSys AG, that will enhance MorphoSys' phage display intellectual property position, while providing Biosite with potential revenues on the sale of licensed products and with potential access to an expanded range of diagnostic targets.
Under the agreement, Biosite will provide MorphoSys with a non-exclusive revenue-bearing license to practice and allow partners to practice phage display of Fab and/or other antibody molecules comprising two or more polypeptide chains (multi-chain antibodies) for purposes of developing antibodies from MorphoSys' HuCAL antibody libraries. MorphoSys will provide Biosite with access to certain diagnostic markers generated through MorphoSys' partnerships with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Should Biosite initiate development of products using markers provided by MorphoSys, then MorphoSys would receive certain revenues on the sale of licensed products.
"MorphoSys' capabilities and potential for developing valuable partnerships is impressive," said Kim Blickenstaff, Biosite president and chief executive officer. "Given MorphoSys' track record, we believe this mutually beneficial effort could yield important new diagnostic markers."
"We believe that this license provides us with technology that is essential to the practice of Fab and multi-chain antibody phage display," said Dr. Thomas von Ruden, MorphoSys chief scientific officer. "We view this as a fundamental license that will allow us to execute our business model." The licenses granted to MorphoSys by Biosite pertain to the Dower patent rights (U.S. Patents 5,427,908 and 5,580,717 and European Patent EP 0527839B1), which Biosite acquired from Affymax Technologies N.V. in 1998, and to certain antibody expression patent rights that Biosite licensed from Xoma Corp. in 1998. Biosite believes that the Dower and Xoma patent rights are fundamental for the practice of antibody phage display. The patents are directed to phage display of Fab and multi-chain antibodies, including multi- chain antibodies wherein one of the polypeptide chains comprises a heavy chain variable domain or region and a light chain variable domain or region. Interested parties are encouraged to contact Biosite to discuss collaboration and licensing opportunities.
Biosite Discovery is a development program dedicated to the collaborative discovery of novel targets and corresponding antibodies primarily in the areas of cancer, cerebrovascular, cardiovascular and infectious disease. The program utilizes a broad base of technologies designed to provide biotechnology and pharmaceutical customers with an advantage in performing target characterization and validation... |
