MorphoSys Strengthens Patent Position on its Core HuCAL Technology in Europe

03-17-2009: MorphoSys AG announced that the European Patent Office has granted a European divisional patent stemming from MorphoSys's base HuCAL (Human Combinatorial Antibody Library) patent family, providing extended protection for the Company's core technology. The new patent (EP1143006) captures HuCAL's modular design at the DNA level, providing solid product claim protection in Europe.

A first European HuCAL patent, which is now complemented by the new patent, was issued by the European Patent Office in 2002. HuCAL patents have been granted in the United States, Australia and at the European Patent Office. In total, the Company is prosecuting about thirty different proprietary patent families worldwide, which comes in addition to approximately thirty patent families the Company is pursuing in cooperation with its partners.

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