MorphoSys
Encyclopedia
MorphoSys AG is a German
biotechnology
company. It is involved in the development and research of antibodies. TecDAX
has listed MorphoSys since 2004.
.
based their therapeutic antibody discovery technologies on phage display. Due to the significant CAT patent estate the two came together from 1999 to 2002 in a number of patent
disputes that were eventually settled. Timeline of disputes:
The companies agreed to terms under which MorphoSys will be free to develop and commercialise its HuCAL technologies. CAT undertook not to sue MorphoSys in relation to present HuCAL GOLD libraries and all future derivatives thereof. In addition, MorphoSys received a licence to the CAT patent estate in respect of previous HuCAL libraries.
CAT received an annual payment of €
1 million over the next five years. It was to also receive other financial consideration from MorphoSys’ activities related to its HuCAL GOLD libraries for a defined period of time. CAT would receive milestone and royalty payments under the licence for products developed using previous HuCAL libraries. In addition, CAT would receive an equity stake of 588,160 ordinary shares in MorphoSys under the licence agreement. MorphoSys retained the option to buy out its obligations to CAT for a pre-defined fixed amount at any time during the duration of the agreement.
As of August 2009, its most advanced drug candidate is MOR103, a fully human HuCAL antibody directed against GM-CSF (granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor), developed in the area of inflammatory diseases, i.e. rheumatoid arthritis
.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
biotechnology
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...
company. It is involved in the development and research of antibodies. TecDAX
TecDAX
The TecDAX stock index tracks the performance of the 30 largest German companies from the technology sector. In terms of order book turnover and market capitalization the companies rank below those included in the DAX.The TecDax was introduced on 24 March 2003...
has listed MorphoSys since 2004.
Technology
MorphoSys generates human antibodies that contain 100% human proteins. The company has named this technology 'HuCal' (Human Combinatorial Antibody Library), and is an antibody production method based on phage displayPhage display
Phage display is a method for the study of protein–protein, protein–peptide, and protein–DNA interactions that uses bacteriophages to connect proteins with the genetic information that encodes them. Phage Display was originally invented by George P...
.
Patent dispute with Cambridge Antibody Technology
Both MorphoSys and Cambridge Antibody TechnologyCambridge Antibody Technology
Cambridge Antibody Technology was a biotechnology company headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom...
based their therapeutic antibody discovery technologies on phage display. Due to the significant CAT patent estate the two came together from 1999 to 2002 in a number of patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
disputes that were eventually settled. Timeline of disputes:
- 1999, 26 April - MorphoSys announced that it has filed a lawsuit against Cambridge Antibody Technology in the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
District Court for the District of Columbia. The lawsuit sought a declaration that MorphoSys does not infringe CAT’s recently-issued US Patent 5,885,793 covering certain methods of producing human antibodies. The suit also sought to have the CAT patent declared invalid..
- 1999, 14 October - MorphoSys announced a favourable outcome to its opposition against the UK Medical Research CouncilMedical Research Council (UK)The Medical Research Council is a publicly-funded agency responsible for co-ordinating and funding medical research in the United Kingdom. It is one of seven Research Councils in the UK and is answerable to, although politically independent from, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills...
’s Winter II patent, which was exclusively licensed to Cambridge Antibody Technology. The outcome was based on a decision announced by the European Patent OfficeEuropean Patent OfficeThe European Patent Office is one of the two organs of the European Patent Organisation , the other being the Administrative Council. The EPO acts as executive body for the Organisation while the Administrative Council acts as its supervisory body as well as, to a limited extent, its legislative...
(EPO) on an opposition MorphoSys lodged against the patent. The decision required changes to the language of the key claim in the patent, thereby significantly narrowing the scope of protection.
- 2001, 20 June - MorphoSys confirmed that Cambridge Antibody Technology, together with The Medical Research Council and The Scripps Research InstituteThe Scripps Research InstituteThe Scripps Research Institute is an American medical research facility that focuses on research in the basic biomedical sciences. Headquartered in La Jolla, California, with a sister facility in Jupiter, Florida, the institute is home to 3,000 scientists, technicians, graduate students, and...
, had initiated a lawsuit at the United States District Court for the Southern District of California in San Diego alleging infringement of CAT's "Winter II" US patent. The Winter II patent covers certain antibody expression libraries and methods of generating such libraries and was granted in the USA on June 19, 2001 (U.S. Patent No. 6,248,516).
- 2001, 25 June - MorphoSys announced that a lawsuit initiated by Cambridge Antibody Technology, together with The Medical Research Council and The Scripps Research Institute, alleging infringement of their "Winter II" US patent (No. 6,248,516) had been dismissed by the United States District Court for the Southern District of California in San Diego. The lawsuit was filed by CAT on June 19, 2001 and was dismissed by the court on Friday, June 22, 2001, for lack of jurisdiction and improper venue. MorphoSys has now filed an action for Declaratory judgmentDeclaratory judgmentA declaratory judgment is a judgment of a court in a civil case which declares the rights, duties, or obligations of one or more parties in a dispute. A declaratory judgment is legally binding, but it does not order any action by a party. In this way, the declaratory judgment is like an action to...
in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington D.C.
- 2001, 19 August - MorphoSys announced that a court in San Diego has granted its motion to dismiss a second attempt by Cambridge Antibody Technology, together with The Medical Research Council, The Scripps Research Institute and Stratagene to bring a suit alleging infringement of their "Winter II" US patent (No. 6,248,516). In late June, the Court dismissed CAT’s earlier-filed suit against MorphoSys on the same patent. Prior to CAT’s second filing, MorphoSys filed a suit in a District Court in Washington, DC seeking a declaration of non-infringement and invalidity of the Winter II patent.
- 2001, 19 August - MorphoSys announced that the District Court in Washington, DC issued a preliminary ruling in its favour in the dispute with Cambridge Antibody Technology concerning the Griffiths patent (U.S. Patent 5,885,793). The ruling followed a March 2001 trial at which the juryJuryA jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...
was unable to reach a verdictVerdictIn law, a verdict is the formal finding of fact made by a jury on matters or questions submitted to the jury by a judge. The term, from the Latin veredictum, literally means "to say the truth" and is derived from Middle English verdit, from Anglo-Norman: a compound of ver and dit In law, a verdict...
on the validity of the patent or whether MorphoSys infringed it. The preliminary ruling issued on August 17 states that "MorphoSys should prevail on the issue of infringement", pending further briefings or proceedings.
- 2001, 20 September - MorphoSys confirmed that Cambridge Antibody Technology, together with Medical Research Council, Scripps Research Institute and Stratagene, had initiated a lawsuit at the United States District Court of Washington D.C. alleging infringement of two of CAT's recently granted "Huse/Lerner/Winter" patents in the U.S. The two Huse/Lerner/Winter patents subject to those proceedings allegedly covering certain antibody expression libraries and were granted in the U.S.A. on September 19, 2001 (U.S. Patent Nos. 6,291,158 and 6,291,161). The lawsuit alleges that MorphoSys infringes three claims found in the two patents.
- 2002, 28 January - MorphoSys announced that on January 24, 2002, the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., had denied Cambridge Antibody Technology’s motion to dismiss or transfer a suit filed by MorphoSys seeking declaratory judgement for non-infringement and invalidity of the U.S. “Winter II” patent (No. 6,248,516). As a result the Winter II patent case in the U.S. will now proceed as a MorphoSys action for declaratory judgement in the Washington, D.C. District Court. The decision relating to the Winter II law suit, involves a separate proceeding from that relating to the favorable ruling MorphoSys received on December 21, 2001, from the same court concerning the U.S. “Griffiths” patent (No. 5,885,793). In the Griffiths case, the Court stated its intent to enter partial summary judgement against CAT in favor of MorphoSys on CAT’s claim of infringement, unless a “genuine issue as to any material fact remains for trial”.
- 2002, 3 November - MorphoSys AG announced that on March 8, 2002 the District Court in Washington, DC issued a final ruling in its favor in the dispute with Cambridge Antibody Technology concerning the Griffiths patent (U.S. Patent 5,885,793). According to the court ruling, MorphoSys application of its proprietary HuCAL antibody libraries does not infringe the claims of the Griffiths patent, thereby giving MorphoSys full freedom to operate with regard to the patent.
- 2002, 23 December - MorphoSys AG and Cambridge Antibody Technology announced that they had agreed to settle all patent disputes between the two companies. The settlement agreement covered MorphoSys’ past, present and future use and commercialisation of all versions of its HuCAL libraries, and included the most recent development at that time, HuCAL GOLD and related to all patents in the ongoing disputes between the two companies. This included litigation in the United States regarding CAT’s Griffiths, McCafferty, Winter II and Winter/Lerner/Huse patents as well as oppositions launched by MorphoSys at the European Patent Office against CAT’s Winter II and McCafferty patents.
The companies agreed to terms under which MorphoSys will be free to develop and commercialise its HuCAL technologies. CAT undertook not to sue MorphoSys in relation to present HuCAL GOLD libraries and all future derivatives thereof. In addition, MorphoSys received a licence to the CAT patent estate in respect of previous HuCAL libraries.
CAT received an annual payment of €
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
1 million over the next five years. It was to also receive other financial consideration from MorphoSys’ activities related to its HuCAL GOLD libraries for a defined period of time. CAT would receive milestone and royalty payments under the licence for products developed using previous HuCAL libraries. In addition, CAT would receive an equity stake of 588,160 ordinary shares in MorphoSys under the licence agreement. MorphoSys retained the option to buy out its obligations to CAT for a pre-defined fixed amount at any time during the duration of the agreement.
Pipeline
MorphoSys has numerous candidates in its clinical development pipeline.As of August 2009, its most advanced drug candidate is MOR103, a fully human HuCAL antibody directed against GM-CSF (granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor), developed in the area of inflammatory diseases, i.e. rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, systemic inflammatory disorder that may affect many tissues and organs, but principally attacks synovial joints. The process produces an inflammatory response of the synovium secondary to hyperplasia of synovial cells, excess synovial fluid, and the development...
.