MorphoSys Inaugurates New Facilities in Oxford, UK

UK Minister of Science Malcolm Wicks presides over opening ceremonies

01/22/2007 - MorphoSys AG (Frankfurt: MOR; Prime Standard Segment, TecDAX), a leading German-based biotechnology company, announced today that it has opened new U.K. headquarters in Kidlington, North Oxford. The 2,200 square meter facility acts as the new U.K. headquarters for the MorphoSys Group of companies situated in the U.K. Today’s official opening ceremony was performed by U.K. Minister of State for Science and Innovation, Malcolm Wicks. Dr. Simon Moroney, Chief Executive Officer of MorphoSys Group, also attended along with Chief Financial Officer Dave Lemus, Head of AbD Serotec Dieter Lingelbach, Tim Bernard, Head of Sales of AbD Serotec and the Managing Director of AbD Serotec James Bernard.

MorphoSys’s business unit, AbD Serotec delivers high-quality antibodies to the research market. Successful acquisitions of U.K. and U.S.-based antibody suppliers with strong catalog and industrial antibody production business have significantly strengthened and broadened MorphoSys’s position in the research antibody market. In April 2006, on the back of its Q1 results, the Company announced plans to consolidate its U.K. operations at a single site in Oxford. The operation is now complete and the Company looks forward to growing its research antibody business from this new base in the U.K.

U.K. Minister of State for Science and Innovation, Malcolm Wicks, said: “The U.K. has a deserved reputation for excellence in biotechnology. This new facility demonstrates further that the U.K. is an attractive location for European businesses to invest. I welcome this investment by the MorphoSys Group, which links two of Europe’s most successful biotech clusters, and wish the company well for its plans to grow its business in the U.K. and abroad.”

“The Oxford region provides us with a strong infrastructure and a high concentration of excellent academic researchers and innovative biotechnology companies - both potential customers for our technology,” commented Dr. Simon Moroney, Chief Executive Officer of MorphoSys AG. “Since the U.K. represents one of the top three markets for our research antibody segment operating under the AbD Serotec brand, a strong presence in this region will remain a key element of our future strategy.”


The official opening ceremony of the new AbD Serotec facility at Endeavour House will take place today, January 22, 2007, at 10.30 a.m. in Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford. Please arrive in good time to be seated before the official start of the ceremony.
Key note speakers at today’s official opening ceremony are Malcolm Wicks, Minister of State for Science and Innovation and Dr. Simon Moroney, Chief Executive Officer of MorphoSys Group.

About MorphoSys:
MorphoSys develops and applies innovative technologies for the production of synthetic antibodies, which accelerate drug discovery and target characterization. Founded in 1992, the Company’s proprietary Human Combinatorial Antibody Library (HuCAL) technology is used by researchers worldwide for human antibody generation. The Company currently has licensing agreements and/or research collaborations with Bayer (Berkeley, California/USA), Boehringer Ingelheim (Ingelheim, Germany), Bristol-Myers Squibb (New Jersey/USA), Centocor Inc. (Malvern, Pennsylvania/USA), Daiichi Sankyo & Co., Ltd. (Tokyo/Japan), GPC Biotech AG (Munich/Germany), Hoffmann-La Roche AG (Basel/Switzerland), ImmunoGen Inc. (Cambridge, Massachusetts/USA), Merck & Co., Inc. (Whitehouse Station, New Jersey/USA), Novartis AG (Basel, Switzerland), Novoplant GmbH (Gatersleben, Germany), OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Mountain View, USA), Pfizer Inc. (Delaware/USA), ProChon Biotech Ltd. (Rehovot/Israel), Schering AG (Berlin/Germany), Schering-Plough (Palo Alto/USA), Shionogi & Co., Ltd. (Osaka/Japan), Xoma Ltd. (Berkeley, California/USA) and others. Additionally, MorphoSys is active in the antibody research market through its AbD Serotec business unit. The business unit was founded in 2003 for the purpose of exploiting the MorphoSys non-therapeutic antibody markets. MorphoSys’ activities in the research antibody segment were significantly strengthened through the acquisition of the U.K. and U.S.-based Biogenesis Group in January 2005 and Serotec Group in 2006. For further information please visit the corporate website at: http://www.morphosys.com/.

Statements included in this press release which are not historical in nature are intended to be, and are hereby identified as, “forward-looking statements” for purposes of the safe harbour provided by Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be identified by words including “anticipates”, “believes”, “intends”, “estimates”, “expects” and similar expressions. The company cautions readers that forward-looking statements, including without limitation those relating to the company’s future operations and business prospects, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Factors that may affect future operations and business prospects include, but are not limited to, clinical and scientific results and developments concerning corporate collaborations and the company’s proprietary rights and other factors described in the prospectus relating to the company’s recent public offering.

HuCAL® and HuCAL GOLD® are registered trademarks of MorphoSys AG

Contact Information

Dr. Claudia Gutjahr-Löser

Head of Corporate Communications

MorphoSys AG

Contact via E-mail