AbD Serotec has relationships with a growing number of diagnostic companies, industrial customers and research organizations. The following is a brief description of these agreements (in alphabetical order).
FIND
In September 2009, AbD Serotec initiated a research collaboration with FIND (Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics), a Swiss foundation that develops, evaluates and accelerates the implementation of new diagnostic tools for poverty-related diseases such as TB, malaria and sleeping sickness. The goal of the research alliance is to establish a series of heat-stable HuCAL-based antibodies as key components of novel diagnostic tests that are robust in tropical climates.
Merck & Co.
In August 2011, AbD Serotec announced the amendment of its existing license agreement with Merck & Co., Inc. to include the use of MorphoSys's HuCAL GOLD technology in the field of vaccines. Under the terms of the agreement, Merck is granted access to HuCAL GOLD for research purposes, with the option to upgrade to MorphoSys's latest proprietary antibody library HuCAL PLATINUM.
AbD Serotec will receive annual user fees from Merck for access to the HuCAL technology and license fees for clinical monitoring reagents.
Novozymes
In December 2011, Novozymes A/S, the world leader in bio-innovation and industrial enzymes, signed a multi-year licensing and technology transfer agreement. The agreement provided Novozymes with a non-exclusive license to use MorphoSys's proprietary Slonomics technology to develop novel products within the industrial biotechnology sector. Novozymes became the first industrial biotech company to have access to Slonomics technology.
Phadia
In July 2008, AbD Serotec announced that Phadia, a world leader in autoimmunity and allergy testing, has implemented a series of HuCAL-based recombinant antibodies in its marketed autoimmune tests Varelisa™ and EliA™. AbD Serotec receives license fees and supplies Phadia with recombinant antibody material. The set of recombinant HuCAL antibodies provided by AbD Serotec act as recombinant control antibodies and replace human serum to standardize autoimmune assays.
Proteomika
In March 2008, Proteomika, a Spanish biotechnology company specializing in biomarker discovery, ordered novel, HuCAL-based, research antibodies against a broad range of target molecules in addition to the production of antigen material at AbD Serotec. AbD Serotec applied MorphoSys's HuCAL antibody technology and the proprietary Antigen Expression System AgX(TM).
In May 2010, Proteomika and AbD Serotec signed a commercial license agreement for seven diagnostic HuCAL-antibodies. Proteomika will implement these antibodies in their PROMONITOR® kits. AbD Serotec will receive royalties on products sales.
PROMONITOR® is a diagnostic test that accurately determines the circulating levels of different drugs and the immune response triggered in the patient by the treatment. PROMONITOR® assures these parameters are measured extremely accurately thus allowing for better clinical management of patients and rational and cost-effective use of biological therapies. Proteomika currently offers products and services for monitoring patients treated with different anti-TNF and anti-CD20 drugs, and is developing similar tests for other biologicals.
Shionogi
The MorphoSys group and Japanese pharmaceutical company Shionogi signed a three-year license agreement on the use of MorphoSys’s HuCAL technology in September 2005. In September 2008, the partnership was extended for three additional years, allowing Shionogi the use of the HuCAL GOLD library for research purposes at one of its research sites.
In April 2009, the two companies entered into an agreement under which Shionogi was allowed to test HuCAL PLATINUM, the latest and most powerful HuCAL antibody library. Shionogi found the new library to be considerably better and amended its research agreement in 2010, in order to use HuCAL PLATINUM for research purposes at one of its sites. Due to this amendment, AbD Serotec receives a higher annual user fee during the remaining life span of the agreement.
Spinreact
In July 2009, AbD Serotec and Spinreact, a Spanish biotechnology company with more than 30 years of experience in research and manufacturing of clinical diagnostic reagents, signed a supply agreement. Initially, the agreement covered the use of two antibodies which Spinreact will incorporate in a series of clinical diagnostic kits. AbD Serotec continuously supplies Spinreact with antibody material.
