Galapagos announces appointment of Ronald Brus to Board; creates new warrant plans

Mechelen, Belgium; 28 April 2010 – Galapagos NV (Euronext: GLPG) announced today that its Annual General Shareholders’ Meeting (AGM) held on 27 April 2010 approved Dr. Ronald Brus’ appointment to the Board of Directors, as well as all other agenda items of the AGM.  Furthermore, the Extraordinary General Shareholders’ Meeting (EGM) held immediately after the AGM approved the creation of a new Warrant Plan for the benefit of the Directors.  In addition, the Board of Directors approved the creation of a new Warrant Plan for the benefit of employees and independent consultants of the Company.

At the AGM, Galapagos shareholders approved the appointment of Dr. Ronald Brus as member of the Board of Directors for a period until the 2014 AGM.  Ronald Brus (1963) is President and Chief Executive Officer of Crucell, headquartered in Leiden, The Netherlands.  He joined Crucell in 1997, holding various management positions before becoming Crucell’s CEO in 2004.  From 1994 to 1996, Dr. Brus was product planning physician at Forest Laboratories and from 1990 to 1994 he was Medical Director for Zambon BV.  He holds a medical degree from the University of Groningen.  Dr. Brus was already a member of the Galapagos Board of Directors from 2000 until Galapagos’ IPO in May 2005.

“We are pleased to welcome Ronald back to our Board of Directors,” said Onno van de Stolpe, CEO of Galapagos.  “Ronald has been involved with Galapagos from the start and brings the experience of building one of Europe’s largest and most successful biotech companies.  Both of these factors make him a great asset to Galapagos going forward.”

Galapagos also announced at the AGM that its Board member Dr. Rudi Pauwels has resigned from the Board as from the date of the AGM, to be able to fully focus on his recently incorporated new company.  “We thank Rudi, who was one of the co-founders of Galapagos, for serving on our Board during the last three years and for his highly valued contribution in particular with respect to the development of Galapagos’ portfolio of projects in the clinic.  We wish him all the best with his new endeavors,” Van de Stolpe commented.

Furthermore, Galapagos announced that its EGM held on 27 April 2010 approved the “Warrant Plan 2010 (B)”, creating (subject to acceptance) 197,560 warrants for the benefit of the Directors of the Company.  These warrants have an exercise period of five years starting as of the date of the offer.  Also on 27 April 2010, the Board of Directors, using the authorized capital, created the Warrant Plan 2010 for the benefit of certain employees and independent consultants of the Company and its subsidiaries.  Under this plan 616,000 were created (subject to acceptances), with an exercise period of eight years starting as of the date of the offer.

                                                                                

The warrants created under the Warrant Plan 2010 and the Warrant Plan 2010 (B) were offered to the beneficiaries on 27 April 2010, and have an exercise price of €11.55 (thirty days average closing price of the share on Euronext Brussels preceding date of the offer).  The warrants created under these plans are not transferable and cannot be exercised prior to the end of the third calendar year after the year in which they were granted to the beneficiaries.  Each warrant gives the right to subscribe to one new Galapagos share.  Should the warrants be exercised, Galapagos will apply for the listing of the resulting new shares on a regulated stock market.  The warrants as such will not be admitted to listing on any stock market.

                                           

About Galapagos                

Galapagos (Euronext: GLPG; OTC: GLPYY) is a mid-size biotechnology company specialized in the discovery and development of small molecule and antibody therapies with novel modes-of-action.  The Company is progressing one of the largest pipelines in biotech, with four clinical and over 50 small molecule discovery/pre-clinical programs.  Through risk/reward-sharing alliances with GlaxoSmithKline, Lilly, Janssen Pharmaceutica, Merck & Co. and Roche, Galapagos is eligible to receive up to €3 billion in downstream milestones, plus royalties.  Together with its BioFocus and Argenta service operations, Galapagos has over 670 employees 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

 

Elizabeth Goodwin, Director Investor Relations

Tel: +31 6 2291 6240

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.