MorphoSys Granted Further U.S. Patent for its Core Antibody Technology HuCAL

MorphoSys AG has announced that the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has granted a fifth U.S. patent stemming from MorphoSys' base HuCAL (Human Combinatorial Antibody Library) patent family, providing extended protection to MorphoSys' core technology.

The new patent (US 7,264,963) captures HuCAL's modular design at the DNA level, providing solid product claim protection in the U.S.

MorphoSys' HuCAL libraries comprise highly diverse, fully human synthetic antibodies that are highly engineerable through their modular CDR design.

It’s most advanced marketed version, HuCAL GOLD, in combination with MorphoSys' proprietary phage display technology, CysDisplay®, provide rapid access to fully human antibodies as research tools, diagnostics and therapeutics.

A first HuCAL patent, which is now complemented by the new patent, was issued by the U.S. Patent Office in 2001.

HuCAL patents have been granted in the United States, in Australia and at the European Patent Office. To date, MorphoSys has had more than fifteen granted patents and has more than 40 applications pending worldwide.

"This new patent provides us with another solid layer of protection of our proprietary core technology, HuCAL, in the United States, a further example of the pioneering nature of HuCAL.

We will carry on with this process, continuing to build a strong intellectual property portfolio around HuCAL and our other antibody-related technologies," commented Dr. Simon Moroney, Chief Executive Officer of MorphoSys AG.