Morphotek and SC BioSciences Announce a Business Collaboration for the Marketing of Morphotek's Proprietary Cell Line Evolution Services in Japan

Morphotek Inc. and SC BioSciences (SCB) today announced a business collaboration agreement in which SCB will serve as the Japanese marketing partner for Morphotek's cell line optimization services. This includes Morphotek's proprietary MORPHODOMA® technology, which rapidly evolves antibody production cell lines to generate subclones producing protein products with enhanced therapeutic efficacy, as well as genetically enhanced cells exhibiting high titers of protein for scaleable manufacturing. Morphotek's platform technologies have been validated through a number of collaborations to be capable of making significant improvements in the manufacturing process of therapeutic proteins.

Morphotek also develops antibody therapeutics utilizing its proprietary technology. In addition to Morphotek's lead product, MORAb-003, a monoclonal antibody directed against a cell-surface glycoprotein tumor target, Morphotek is also optimizing the therapeutic efficacy of antibodies obtained for the treatment of cancer, inflammation and infectious diseases. The MORPHODOMA® process generates high-affinity antibodies and high-titer cell lines for scalable manufacturing. Lead antibodies and evolved variants are currently being evaluated for therapeutic efficacy in preclinical studies. The Company has established an experienced team of researchers, collaborators and consultants for the evaluation and preparation of these products for clinical development.

"Morphotek is pleased to have selected SCB as its Japanese marketing partner. We look forward to bringing our technology to Japan along with SCB, an experienced and well-respected life sciences company," stated Nicholas C. Nicolaides, President and Chief Executive Officer of Morphotek. "Morphotek can provide value to Japanese pharmaceuticals by applying its proprietary platform to develop candidate therapeutic antibodies and proteins for the treatment of a wide range of human diseases, and we believe that the experience and extensive network of SCB will be instrumental in helping us identify Japanese biopharmaceutical customers and to adequately support their needs. We are delighted to have established this relationship with Morphotek. We are looking forward to introducing these cutting-edge technologies for antibody optimization and improving manufacturing yields to our customers in Japan," said Dr. Akiko Futamura, Executive Vice President, SCB USA, "We believe that Morphotek's unique methodology to evolve lead cell lines should dramatically help our customers in Japan. There are increasing needs among pharmaceutical companies in Japan to overcome the bottlenecks in cell-line development and antibody production. We are pleased to be Morphotek's partner that will introduce this technology to our Japanese customers.

About SC BioSciences

SCB is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Corporation, which is one of Japan's leading trading companies (founded 1919, employees 5,500, gross trading profit US $4B). SCB's mission is to identify and commercially introduce cutting-edge life science technologies, including instrumentation, reagents and platform technologies, into the Japanese marketplace. SCB has established extensive commercial partnerships with leading life sciences companies including, MDS Sciex, Xenogen, QuantumDot Corporation, Biotage and Curagen. For more information on SCB, please visit the company website at www.scbio.co.jp

For Information Contact:
Tsuyoshi Karasawa, Executive Vice President
SC BioSciences Corporation
03-5777-6668
tkarasawa@scbio.co.jp

About Morphotek

Morphotek is a biotechnology company specializing in the development of protein and antibody products through the use of a novel and proprietary gene evolution technology. The technology has been successfully applied to a broad variety of cell lines and organisms to yield genetically diverse offspring that are suitable for pharmaceutical product development in the areas of antibody therapeutics, protein therapeutics, product manufacturing, drug target discovery, and improved output traits for commercial applications. Morphotek has established collaborative agreements with leading life sciences companies including Abgenix, Baxter Healthcare, Centocor, Novo Nordisk, Protein Design Labs, Tanox and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. The company is currently focusing its platform on the development and manufacturing of therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of cancer, inflammation and infectious disease. For further company information visit: http://www.morphotek.com.

For Information Contact:
Philip M. Sass, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Morphotek, Inc.
610-423-6106



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