Heptares Initiates Proprietary Therapeutic Antibody Program against a GPCR Target

31-Jul-2015 - United Kingdom

MorphoSys AG announced that its partner Heptares Therapeutics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sosei Group Corporation, has exercised an option to initiate a therapeutic antibody program arising from the alliance the companies entered into in February 2013. The program will leverage MorphoSys’s Ylanthia® antibody library to generate novel antibody leads and addresses a GPCR target selected by Heptares, for which Heptares has engineered a StaR® antigen.
 
The development and commercialization of this program by Heptares is covered by the existing collaboration agreement between the two companies. MorphoSys will receive a licensing fee and R&D funding from Heptares and is eligible to receive milestone payments and royalties on the sales of any therapeutic antibodies resulting from the program. Further financial details were not disclosed.
 
In February 2013, MorphoSys and Heptares Therapeutics, the clinical-stage GPCR structure-guided drug discovery and development company, announced an agreement to discover novel antibody therapeutics targeting G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Under the terms of the agreement, Heptares generates stabilized receptors (StaR®) for a set of GPCR disease targets proposed by MorphoSys. MorphoSys then utilizes its proprietary Ylanthia® library for the generation and further development of specific and functionally active anti-GPCR antibodies. The agreement also includes the option, now exercised by Heptares, to develop and commercialize a therapeutic antibody created by MorphoSys against a GPCR target selected by Heptares.
 

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Topic world Antibodies

Antibodies are specialized molecules of our immune system that can specifically recognize and neutralize pathogens or foreign substances. Antibody research in biotech and pharma has recognized this natural defense potential and is working intensively to make it therapeutically useful. From monoclonal antibodies used against cancer or autoimmune diseases to antibody-drug conjugates that specifically transport drugs to disease cells - the possibilities are enormous

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Topic world Antibodies

Antibodies are specialized molecules of our immune system that can specifically recognize and neutralize pathogens or foreign substances. Antibody research in biotech and pharma has recognized this natural defense potential and is working intensively to make it therapeutically useful. From monoclonal antibodies used against cancer or autoimmune diseases to antibody-drug conjugates that specifically transport drugs to disease cells - the possibilities are enormous