Additional information MorphoSys / Xoma deal.
Money flow from MorphoSys to Xoma:
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(44/M/Sarasota, Fl.[Paradise])
2/25/02 10:05 am
***Gutjahr said most of the money in the deal flowed from MorphoSys to Xoma, but declined to give details.
MorphoSys expected to discuss its drug development plans in detail in April, she said. ***
UPDATE 1-MorphSys, Xoma in antibody cross-licensing deal
(Adds detail, background, share price)
FRANKFURT, Feb 25 (Reuters) - MorphoSys AG entered cross-licensing agreements with U.S. group Xoma Ltd on
Monday which the German biotech company said would boost its fledgling efforts to make its own drugs.
MorphoSys spokeswoman Claudia Gutjahr-Loeser said Monday's deal was the company's second -- after last year's
agreement with Austria's Oridis Biomed GmbH -- where it swaps its own technology for target molecules seen playing a
role in disease.
She said MorphoSys wanted to do more such deals but declined to give details.
Under Monday's agreement, MorphoSys and its partners receive a licence to use Xoma technology for developing
antibody products using MorphoSys's HuCal antibody library.
Xoma will receive licence payments from MorphoSys as well as a licence to use the MorphoSys HuCal Gold antibody
library for its target discovery and research programmes for five years, the German company said in a statement.
HuCal Gold is an upgrade of the company's HuCal antibody library, which comprises over 10 billion human antibodies.
MorphoSys would receive future licence, milestone and royalty payments should Xoma develop therapeutic antibodies
using HuCal Gold.
By 0825 GMT, MorphoSys shares were up 1.78 percent at 47.33 euros compared with a 0.77 percent rise on the Neuer
Markt biotech index .
Gutjahr said most of the money in the deal flowed from MorphoSys to Xoma, but declined to give details. MorphoSys
expected to discuss its drug development plans in detail in April, she said.
MorphoSys took a major step toward gaining the financial strength to develop its own drugs in December, when
Schering AG bought a 10 percent stake in it as part of a three-year collaboration to develop drugs and diagnostic tests. |
