MorphoSys Appoints Head of Clinical Development

MorphoSys Fills Key Position in Expanding Proprietary Development
Team

MorphoSys AG (FSE: MOR; Prime Standard Segment, TecDAX) announced
today the appointment of Lisa Rojkjaer, MD, as Vice President and
Head of Clinical Development. Dr. Rojkjaer joins MorphoSys from
Novartis Pharma AG where she most recently held the position of Head
of Medical Affairs - Hematology, Europe, following her appointment as
global clinical program head for Exjade®. Here she was responsible
for all clinical activities in Europe for Novartis's Hematology
portfolio including Gleevec® and Exjade®. Prior to her tenure at
Novartis, she spent five years with Novo Nordisk, in Copenhagen,
Denmark, and Princeton, USA as the Director of Global Medical Affairs
Biopharmaceuticals and later Director, Clinical Development
Hematology. During her time with Novo Nordisk she established a
global medical affairs group for biopharmaceuticals and headed the
clinical development of the US hematology portfolio amongst other
accomplishments. Dr. Rojkjaer is a board certified hematologist and
received her MD degree from the University of Toronto, where she also
did her residency in internal medicine and fellowship in hematology.
She has held academic and hospital appointments in the US, Canada
and Europe.

"We are committed to building an excellent development organization
by hiring top talent. Thus, I am particularly delighted to welcome
Lisa Rojkjaer to occupy a key position in our growing development
team," commented Dr. Arndt Schottelius, Chief Development Officer of
MorphoSys AG. "Lisa brings extensive experience of drug development
in the pharmaceutical industry, which will support us in our plans to
advance and expand our proprietary pipeline and to develop a constant
flow of valuable drug candidates."

MorphoSys's expanding proprietary product development activities are
funded by cash-flows from its partnered discovery business.
MorphoSys plans to significantly broaden its proprietary therapeutic
antibody pipeline in 2009 and the years ahead. At the end of 2009,
the company expects a total of up to eight proprietary antibody
programs ongoing, with its lead development program MOR103 in a phase
2 clinical trial and seven programs in preclinical development and
discovery stage.

"I'm looking forward to working with the entire R&D team at MorphoSys
to execute the Company's strategy and move antibody programs through
clinical trials quickly and efficiently. Through both my academic
and medical careers as well as my time within the pharmaceutical
industry I gained profound scientific and drug development knowledge
in hematology and oncology, which I will apply to advance MorphoSys's
growing clinical pipeline," commented Dr. Rojkjaer.

About MorphoSys:
MorphoSys is an independent biotechnology company that develops novel
antibodies for therapeutic, diagnostic and research applications. The
Company's HuCAL technology is one of the most powerful methods
available for generating fully human antibodies. By successfully
applying this and other proprietary technologies, MorphoSys has
become a leader in the field of therapeutic antibodies, one of the
fastest-growing drug classes in human health-care. Through its
alliances with some of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies,
MorphoSys has created a pipeline of more than 60 drug candidates. The
Company is expanding its drug pipeline by adding new partnered
programs, and by building a portfolio of fully-owned therapeutic
antibodies. For its proprietary portfolio, the Company is focused on
the areas of oncology and inflammation, within which it plans to have
eight active programs by the end of 2009. Its most advanced program
is MOR103, a first-in-class, fully human antibody against GM-CSF.
MorphoSys expects to commence a Phase Ib/IIa trial of this antibody
in rheumatoid arthritis patients in the second half of 2009. Via its
business unit AbD Serotec, MorphoSys is expanding the reach of its
technologies in the diagnostics and research markets. MorphoSys is
headquartered in Munich, Germany and listed on the Frankfurt Stock
Exchange under the symbol "MOR". For further information, visit
http://www.morphosys.com/

HuCAL®, HuCAL GOLD®, HuCAL PLATINUM®, CysDisplay® and RapMAT® 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.

For more information, please contact MorphoSys:

Dr. Claudia Gutjahr-Löser
Head of Corporate Communications & IR
Tel: +49 (0) 89 / 899 27-122
gutjahr-loeser@morphosys.com

Mario Brkulj
Senior Manager Corporate Communications & IR
Tel: +49 (0) 89 / 899 27-454
brkulj@morphosys.com

Jessica Kulpi
Specialist Corporate Communications & IR
Tel: +49 (0) 89 / 899 27-454
kulpi@morphosys.com

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