Date: 2014-06-12
Type of information: R&D agreement
Compound: therapeutic antibodies against undisclosed immune checkpoints
Company: MorphoSys (Germany) Merck Serono (Germany)
Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology
Type agreement: R&D
Action mechanism:
Disease:
Details: * On June 12, 2014, MorphoSys and Merck announced that they have signed an agreement to discover and develop therapeutic antibodies against undisclosed immune checkpoints. Under the terms of the agreement, MorphoSys and Merck Serono will join forces to develop therapies that modulate the immune system's natural ability to fight tumors. MorphoSys,will apply its proprietary Ylanthia® antibody phage library and technology platform to identify antibodies against the targets of interest. Merck Serono with its strong portfolio and capabilities in the field of immuno-oncology and clinical development will be fully responsible for execution of development from Phase 1 onwards. With this partnership, Merck Serono, is committed to strengthen its existing portfolio of cancer immunotherapies that work as monotherapies or in combination with other therapeutic modalities. The company's immuno-oncology pipeline assets currently investigated in clinical trials span from Phase 1 to Phase 3 for the treatment of different cancer types, including tecemotide, a MUC1 antigen-specific cancer immunotherapy, the two immunocytokines NHS-IL2 (MSB0010445) and NHS-IL12 (MSB0010360), and the monoclonal antibody anti-PD-L1 (MSB0010718C).
Financial terms: Under the terms of the co-development and license agreement, MorphoSys will co-fund research & development costs with the option to opt-out at predefined stages. MorphoSys will be eligible to receive development and commercial milestone payments, and in addition, tiered royalties on product sales that will reflect the extent of MorphoSys co-funding. Merck Serono will have sole responsibility for commercializing of any resulting products. Further financial details are not being disclosed.
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