Main research areas

Cancer

The oncology market includes a large number of heterogeneous indications demonstrating a wide range of unmet medical needs and incidence rates. Standard treatments for the various forms of cancer include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and hormone treatment. However, new biological products hold the most promise for changing treatment paradigms. Drugs such as therapeutic antibodies may allow for highly specific targeting of cancer cells or signaling molecules in order to potentially offer a different safety profile.

MorphoSys is currently developing proprietary cancer compounds in clinical trials.

Immuno-oncology: a new paradigm in the fight against cancer

Immuno-oncology is one of the most exciting areas of research in the biopharmaceutical industry. With the development of therapies that modulate the immune system´s natural ability to fight tumors, researchers are striving to reach a major breakthrough that will overcome the shortcomings of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Antibody-based immuno-oncologic therapies have shown promise with the potential to provide additional treatment options for a broad range of cancer patients.

Modern immune therapies seek to enhance the immune response against the tumor and block evasion strategies of cancer cells. Multiple development steps are needed to generate potent anti-tumor immune responses. MorphoSys uses its proprietary Ylanthia antibody library and other technology platforms to generate antibodies that target specific immune checkpoints.

MorphoSys has already worked on a range of immune checkpoint targets, in partnered and on proprietary programs, and is actively seeking to further expand this field of research. 

Inflammatory and autoimmune diseases

Both autoimmune and inflammatory diseases arise through uncharacteristic reactions of the human immune system. In autoimmunity, the patient's immune system is activated against the body's own proteins. In chronic inflammatory diseases, neutrophils and other leukocytes are constitutively recruited by cytokines and chemokines, leading to tissue damage. Inflammatory disorders include conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), multiple sclerosis (MS), asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), psoriasis and inflammatory bowel disease. Around 1% of the global population is thought to be affected by rheumatoid arthritis, which makes it the largest single market in the area of inflammatory diseases. Additionally, certain bone-related indications involve inflammatory processes. Inflammatory and autoimmune diseases represent a major challenge for millions of patient.

Lanthipeptides

Peptides are an increasingly important class of drug. As natural ligands to many targets, they can combine agonistic or antagonistic activity and can be applied to disease targets, where small molecules or antibody-based drugs cannot be used.
Through a technology alliance with Lanthio Pharma, MorphoSys has entered the field of therapeutic peptides some years ago. The novel, modified lanthipeptides make it possible to discover highly target-selective peptides, which only bind and activate one specific target subtype. They are also more stable than linear wild-type peptides making them potent drug candidates against serious diseases such as fibrosis or multiple sclerosis.