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MorphoSys as a Partner

Who We Are

MorphoSys has a proven track record of successful alliances including research, development and commercial agreements with numerous leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. The partnering efforts of our highly experienced Business Development (BD) team have laid the groundwork for MorphoSys’ transformation from a technology provider to a fully integrated, commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company.

The value generated through MorphoSys’ partnerships is evident in our advancing clinical pipeline, products on the market like Tremfya® and Monjuvi® (tafasitamab-cxix), and further underscored by our recent funding partnership with Royalty Pharma, worth more than $2 billion.

Each therapeutic program and each partner is different, and MorphoSys’ BD team has the experience, passion and mindset to craft creative partnership structures and generate a win-win outcome for all of us – most importantly for the patients.

Partnering with MorphoSys

The basis for a successful partnership is collaboration, transparency and sharing a common goal. We look for partners that share these crucial values and the very same passion that we have to bring new treatment options to patients in the most accelerated and impactful manner.

 

Partnerships

 

Delivering on our development portfolio

Backed by a strong financial position with the mandate to invest in drug development, we are striving to build one of the most valuable pipelines of innovative therapies in the industry. In line with this strategic goal, our partnering activities center on broadening and advancing the development of our portfolio. No matter whether we in-license a new compound or partner an existing one – our actions are always guided by what is best for the program in terms of partner, structure and timing.

Partnerships on Selected Preclinical and Clinical Programs

With the acquisition of Constellation Pharmaceuticals by MorphoSys in July 2021, we have created an exciting, valuable clinical and preclinical pipeline that complements MorphoSys’ long standing history in antibody therapeutics with Constellation’s in depth experience in small molecules and epigenetics.

We are open to exploring partnerships around selected clinical and preclinical assets with a partner who shares our vision and passion for these programs.

Partnerships on Discovery Stage Investigational Compounds, Targets and Technologies

MorphoSys’ success is deeply rooted in the appreciation of science. We have entered various collaborations with pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies and academic institutes to bring in and further develop novel targets, differentiated technologies and promising investigational compounds.

Our ability to turn an in-licensed target into a valuable commercial opportunity for its academic collaborator, its partner and its shareholders is exemplified by the otilimab (MOR103) program. Starting from an exclusive license and collaboration agreement with Melbourne University around the target GM-CSF, the program was advanced by MorphoSys into phase 2 clinical development. Based on clinical proof-of-concept data, MorphoSys secured GlaxoSmithKline as a partner to further develop and bring the compound to the market globally.

Various biopharmaceutical companies engaged in even more comprehensive alliances with MorphoSys that included target validation, discovery and optimization of drug candidates as well co-development of the resulting drug programs.

Partnering Process

Our BD team has a broad network and has built trustful relationships throughout the pharma and biotechnology industry as well as academia. We look forward to discussing new opportunities and inbound interest within our BD team and take care to include the relevant R&D and commercial functions in further scientific, clinical and commercial discussions, as best suited to the stage of the program or the technology under evaluation. 

Our Selected Partnerships:

Incyte/Monjuvi®/Minjuvi®

In January 2020, MorphoSys and Incyte Corporation announced that the companies entered into a collaboration and license agreement to further develop and commercialize MorphoSys’ proprietary anti-CD19 antibody tafasitamab (MOR208) globally. Tafasitamab is an Fc-engineered antibody against CD19 currently in clinical development for the treatment of B cell malignancies. In 2010, MorphoSys licensed exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize tafasitamab from Xencor, Inc. Tafasitamab incorporates an XmAb® engineered Fc domain, which mediates B-cell lysis through apoptosis and immune effector mechanism including antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) and antibody-dependent cellular phagocytosis (ADCP). MorphoSys and Incyte co-commercialize tafasitamab in the U.S. under the brand name Monjuvi®, while Incyte has exclusive commercialization rights outside of the U.S.

On August 24, 2021, Health Canada granted Incyte MorphoSys’ development and commercialization partner for tafasitamab, a Notice of Compliance with conditions for Minjuvi® (tafasitamab), in combination with lenalidomide for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (r/r DLBCL) not otherwise specified, including DLBCL arising from low grade lymphoma, who are not eligible for autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT). On August 26, the European Commission (EC) also granted conditional marketing authorization for Minjuvi® (tafasitamab) in combination with lenalidomide, followed by Minjuvi monotherapy, for the treatment of adult patients with r/r DLBCL who are not eligible for ASCT.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society/Pelabresib

Through the acquisition of Constellation Pharmaceuticals in June 2021, MorphoSys added Pelabresib (CPI-0610) to its pipeline, a small molecule BET inhibitor with first- and best-in-class potential in myelofibrosis. 

The early clinical development of Pelabresib in hematologic malignancies was supported by a strategic partnership entered into between Constellation and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society® (LLS) in September 2012. Under the terms of the agreement, LLS committed to provide funding to support Pelabresib development through the completion of a Phase 1 clinical study plan, paving the path for our current phase 3 clinical trial in myelofibrosis (MANIFEST-2) of Pelabresib.

I-MAB/Felzartamab

In November 2017, MorphoSys AG and I-Mab entered into an exclusive regional licensing agreement to develop and commercialize felzartamab (MOR202) in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao, based on data from MorphoSys European Phase 1/2a clinical study in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. Felzartamab is an investigational antibody against CD38 with first in class potential in various autoantibody-driven immune diseases, including those that are under development by MorphoSys.

I-Mab Biopharma (a fully owned affiliate of I-Mab) management has extensive experience that is particularly well-suited to developing Felzartamab for the Greater Chinese market.

Janssen/Tremfya®

In January 2001, MorphoSys AG and Janssen (Centocor) entered into a collaboration and license agreement under which MorphoSys generated optimized fully human antibodies against targets selected by Janssen using its proprietary HuCAL® technology in return for upfront, technology license fees, research & development funding, milestone payments and royalties. Janssen is responsible for development and marketing of any resulting drugs. Out of this partnership emerged Tremfya®, the first approved fully human monoclonal antibody that selectively binds to the p19 subunit of IL-23 and inhibits its interaction with the IL-23 receptor. In 2017, Tremfya® became the first drug based on MorphoSys’ antibody technology to receive regulatory approval for the treatment of plaque psoriasis.

Tremfya® is approved in the U.S., Canada, Japan, and a number of other countries worldwide for the treatment of adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis (PsO) who are candidates for injections or pills (systemic therapy) or phototherapy (treatment using ultraviolet light), and for the treatment of adult patients with active psoriatic arthritis (PsA). It is also approved in the EU for the treatment of moderate to severe plaque PsO in adults who are candidates for systemic therapy and for the treatment of active PsA in adult patients who have had an inadequate response or who have been intolerant to a prior disease-modifying antirheumatic drug therapy.

The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson maintain exclusive worldwide marketing rights to Tremfya®.

A Selection of Our Partners

Novartis, Janssen, Roche, GSK, Incyte, I-MAB, Royalty Pharma

Pfizer, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Xencor

scientist-with-micrsoscope
scientist-with-micrsoscope

Our Pipeline

View our own pipeline and a selection of clinical programs developed by our partners.

Read more

Partner Contact

Contact us for further information: BD@morphosys.com

 

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