Hospital-acquired or nosocomial infections are a growing public health concern and are associated with increasing levels of mortality. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that in the United States alone about 1.7 million nosocomial infections and 99,000 associated deaths occur each year. These infections are caused by micro-organisms including Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). In the United Kingdom, S. aureus accounts for almost half of all hospital-acquired infections
MRSA
In collaboration with UK-based Absynth Biologics, MorphoSys is generating antibodies against novel target molecules associated with infections including drug-resistant methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) to be tested in relevant disease models by Absynth. Absynth has demonstrated that monoclonal antibodies against the targets in-licensed by MorphoSys inhibit the growth of S. aureus and recruit the human immune system to eliminate bacteria via phagocytosis.
Proportion of Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates in participating countries in 2009
