Morphotek in deal with German hospital

Morphotek, a US subsidiary of Japanese drug major Eisai, has announced the signing of an evaluation agreement with the University Hospital  Heidelberg and its Technology Transfer Office, Germany, to advance the  company's efforts in the discovery and development of therapeutic  antibodies in oncology. The accord provides for a research grant to the  University Hospital/National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) and for use  by Morphotek of biological materials to generate and validate  therapeutic monoclonal antibodies to oncology targets selected by the  company.

Nicholas Nicolaides, chief executive of the US firm, said: "this  research program offers Morphotek unique clinical materials to generate  and validate potential therapeutic antibodies using our MORPHODOMA  technologies and will enable us to advance our goal of discovering and  developing novel monoclonal antibody therapeutics. The clinical group at  NCT is dedicated to bringing new therapies to treat patients with  cancer, and we look forward to collaborating with them to discover new  experimental medicines with potential to treat patients with various  cancers."