MorphoSys granted US patent protecting RA drug candidate

German antibody specialist MorphoSys AG and Australia's University of Melbourne said that the US Patent and Trademark Office has confirmed that it will issue a patent covering key uses of antibodies against granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor.

The patent stems from a provisional application filed in 2000 by the University of Melbourne. In 2007, MorphoSys signed an agreement with the University, providing it with an exclusive license to this patent family. The claims of the patent are directed to methods of ameliorating the effects of inflammation by administering to a patient an antibody directed against GM-CSF.

Human cytokine GM-CSF is the target molecule of MorphoSys' proprietary MOR103 program for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, which is the first fully-human antibody against GM-CSF in clinical trials.