MorphoSys Licenses RapMAT Technology to Astellas

MARTINSRIED, Germany, July 23, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- MorphoSys AG
(Frankfort:MOR) (Prime Standard Segment, TecDAX) announced today that Astellas
Pharma Inc. has exercised a pre-existing option to use MorphoSys's proprietary
RapMAT technology for faster antibody optimization as part of the existing
technology transfer agreements between the two companies. As a result, Astellas
will have access to MorphoSys's RapMAT technology module alongside the existing
installation of the Company's proprietary antibody library HuCAL GOLD at
Astellas' research site in Tsukuba, Japan. Under the extended agreement
MorphoSys will receive annual user fees for the RapMAT technology and continues
to receive annual user fees for access to its HuCAL platform. Further financial
details were not disclosed.

RapMAT, which stands for "rapid maturation", improves the options for
identifying antibodies from the HuCAL libraries and reduces the time for
generating promising therapeutic lead molecules. The RapMAT technology is
completely compatible with the HuCAL GOLD antibody library. MorphoSys believes
that the use of RapMAT can greatly speed up antibody drug discovery, while
widening the pool of drug candidates from which to choose.

"Today's news marks our second RapMAT-based technology deal with an existing
partner. We welcome Astellas's decision to broaden its technological portfolio
and use our RapMAT technology module to speed up their internal drug development
process," commented Dr. Simon Moroney, Chief Executive Officer of MorphoSys.
"Developments such as RapMAT are a result of our strategy to maintain our
technological leadership in the field of human therapeutic antibodies, and
thereby further strengthen our position in the market for this important class
of drugs."

About MorphoSys:

MorphoSys is a publicly traded biotechnology company focused on the generation
of fully human antibodies as a means to discover and develop innovative
antibody-based drugs against life-threatening diseases. MorphoSys's goal is to
establish HuCAL as the technology of choice for antibody generation in research,
diagnostics and therapeutic applications. The Company currently has therapeutic
and research alliances with the majority of the world's largest pharmaceutical
companies including Boehringer Ingelheim, Centocor/Johnson & Johnson, Novartis,
Pfizer and Roche. Within these partnerships, more than 50 therapeutic antibody
programs are ongoing in which MorphoSys participates through exclusive license
and milestones payments as well as royalties on any end products. Additionally,
MorphoSys is active in the antibody research market through its AbD Serotec
business unit. The business unit has operations in Germany (Munich), the U.S.
(Raleigh, NC) and U.K.(Oxford). For further information please
visithttp://www.morphosys.com/

HuCAL(r), HuCAL GOLD(r) and RapMAT(r) are registered trademarks of MorphoSys AG

This communication contains certain forward-looking statements concerning the
MorphoSys group of companies. The forward-looking statements contained herein
represent the judgment of MorphoSys as of the date of this release and involve
risks and uncertainties. Should actual conditions differ from the Company's
assumptions, actual results and actions may differ from those anticipated.
MorphoSys does not intend to update any of these forward-looking statements as
far as the wording of the relevant press release is concerned.

http://hugin.info/130295/R/1237795/264574.pdf

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CONTACT: MorphoSys AG
Dr. Claudia Gutjahr-Loser, Head of Corporate Communications &
Investor Relations
+49 (0) 89 / 899 27-122
gutjahr-loeser@morphosys.com
Mario Brkulj, Manager Corporate Communications & Investor
Relations
+49 (0) 89 / 899 27-454
brkulj@morphosys.com