Mechelen, Belgium;
26 November 2009 – Galapagos NV (Euronext: GLPG) announces
that its antibody therapeutics program with MorphoSys and
SARM program have been awarded funding by the French governmental
organization OSEO. Accordingly, the Paris-based Galapagos
R&D center will receive interest free loans from OSEO
worth €1.2 M over the next two years. Galapagos will
use the loans to help fund the pre-clinical development
of SARM candidate drug GLPG0492 for cachexia and the antibody
alliance with MorphoSys.
The Galapagos-MorphoSys
antibody alliance also has been awarded the innovation label
(E! 5036 GALASYS) by EUREKA, a European network that enhances
European competitiveness through international collaboration.
With the EUREKA label, Galapagos received the no-interest
loan from the French governmental organization OSEO to help
fund its part of the alliance. The EUREKA label recognizes
the partners’ combined cutting-edge capabilities to
generate novel antibody therapeutics, a rapidly growing
market currently worth over €20 billion. Galapagos
and MorphoSys are developing fully human antibodies, which
are recognized as the next generation of therapeutic antibodies.
“This attractive financing
that our Paris-based R&D center has received from OSEO
will support two highly innovative programs which we otherwise
would have had to finance internally,” said Onno van
de Stolpe, CEO of Galapagos. “Both of these programs
are on-track, with the SARM candidate drug scheduled to
enter the clinic early next year.”
About EUREKA
EUREKA was established in 1985 with the objective of strengthening
European competitiveness in the world market and raising
the profile and level of European technologies. This is
realized though the promotion of European industrial cooperation
in market-oriented R&D projects, aimed at the creation
of advanced technology applications. As a result, EUREKA
has become a catalyst for pan-European cooperation between
enterprises and research institutes across Europe. This
cooperation is primarily aimed at bringing products, processes
and services to the market. Due to its bottom-up approach
(projects are always defined by participants), EUREKA complements
other European initiatives such as the EU Framework Programs,
COST, ESA and CERN. More info at: www.eureka.be
About OSEO
OSEO was created in 2005 by bringing together ANVAR (French
Innovation Agency) and BDPME (Development Bank for SMEs).
OSEO’s mission is to provide assistance and financial
support to French SMEs in the most decisive phases of their
life cycle: start up, innovation, development, business
transfer/buy out. By sharing the risk, OSEO facilitates
the access of SMEs to financing by banking partners and
equity capital investors. More info at: www.oseo.fr
About Galapagos’
SARM candidate drug
Galapagos’ SARM candidate drug, GLPG0492, is an orally-available
small molecule therapeutic, which has demonstrated successful
Proof of Concept in pre-clinical studies for cachexia (the
loss of weight and muscle mass). In addition to the cachexia
indication, Charley’s Fund and the Nash Avery Foundation
will support the costs of pre-clinical studies to assess
the potential effectiveness of GLPG0492 in treating Duchenne
muscular dystrophy. Galapagos is currently conducting pre-clinical
development for GLPG0492, and plans to initiate a Phase
I clinical trial in healthy volunteers in the beginning
of 2010.
About the Galapagos-MorphoSys
antibody alliance in bone and joint diseases
In November 2008, Galapagos and MorphoSys
entered a co-development alliance aimed at discovering and
developing antibody therapies based on novel modes of action
in bone & joint disease, including rheumatoid arthritis,
osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. The alliance spans activities
from target discovery through to completion of Proof of
Concept clinical trials of novel therapeutic antibodies.
Both companies contribute their core technologies and expertise
to the alliance. Galapagos provides antibody targets implicated
in bone & joint disease in addition to its adenoviral
target discovery platform to discover further targets for
antibody development. MorphoSys contributes its HuCAL antibody
technologies to generate fully human antibodies directed
against these targets. The initial goal is to further validate
the targets through disease-specific in vitro and
in vivo testing of the antibodies. After successful
validation, the alliance will select antibody programs for
pre-clinical and clinical development. Following Proof of
Concept in human clinical trials, programs will be partnered
for subsequent development, approval and marketing. Under
the terms of the agreement, Galapagos and MorphoSys will
share the research and development costs, as well as all
future revenues equally.
About Galapagos
Galapagos (Euronext: GLPG; OTC: GLPYY) is a drug discovery
and development company with small molecule programs in
bone and joint diseases, bone metastasis, cachexia, anti-infectives
and metabolic diseases. It has established risk sharing
alliances with GSK, Janssen Pharmaceutica, Eli Lilly and
Merck and Co. Through an alliance with MorphoSys, Galapagos
is also developing new antibody therapies in bone and joint
diseases. Its division BioFocus offers a full suite of target-to-drug
discovery products and services to pharmaceutical and biotech
companies and to patient foundations, encompassing target
discovery and validation, screening and drug discovery through
to delivery of pre-clinical candidates. Galapagos currently
employs 495 people and operates facilities in six countries,
with global headquarters in Mechelen, Belgium. More info
at: www.glpg.com
CONTACT
Galapagos NV
Onno van de Stolpe, CEO
Tel: +31 6 2909 8028
ir@glpg.com
This release may contain forward-looking statements,
including, without limitation, statements containing the
words “believes,” “anticipates,”
“expects,” “intends,” “plans,”
“seeks,” “estimates,” “may,”
“will,” “could,” “stands to,”
and “continues,” as well as similar expressions.
Such forward-looking statements may involve known and unknown
risks, uncertainties and other factors which might cause
the actual results, financial condition, performance or
achievements of Galapagos, or industry results, to be materially
different from any historic or future results, financial
conditions, performance or achievements expressed or implied
by such forward-looking statements. Given these uncertainties,
the reader is advised not to place any undue reliance on
such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements
speak only as of the date of publication of this document.
Galapagos expressly disclaims any obligation to update any
such forward-looking statements in this document to reflect
any change in its expectations with regard thereto or any
change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any
such statement is based, unless required by law or regulation.
