Mechelen, Belgium; 20 July 2007 – Galapagos NV (Euronext & LSE: GLPG) announced today that its BioFocus DPI service division has received a milestone payment in the autoimmune discovery research collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim.
The three-year collaboration announced in January 2006 involves an expansion of BioFocus DPI’s SilenceSelect® sh-RNA based gene collection with an additional gene set, the development of a dedicated cellular assay in the field of autoimmune diseases, and its application in a target discovery screen for Boehringer Ingelheim’s autoimmune discovery research. Galapagos obtained upfront fees, will continue to receive research and development funding, and will receive milestone fees when certain drug discovery criteria are met. Should all criteria on a target be achieved, total potential contract value for Galapagos may exceed €2 million.
“This milestone speaks to BioFocus DPI’s ability to deliver on longer term, higher value collaborations,” said Onno van de Stolpe, Chief Executive Officer of Galapagos. “We are delighted that the collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim has progressed as planned and is on track to continue delivering value.”
About Galapagos
Galapagos (Euronext Brussels, GLPG; Euronext Amsterdam, GLPGA; London AiM: GLPG) is a drug discovery company with clinical and pre-clinical programs in bone and joint diseases, cachexia, and menopausal hot flashes. Its division BioFocus DPI offers a full suite of target-to-drug discovery products and services to pharmaceutical and biotech companies, encompassing target discovery and validation, screening and drug discovery through to delivery of pre-clinical candidates. BioFocus DPI also provides adenoviral reagents for rapid identification and validation of novel drug targets, compound libraries for drug screening as well as chemogenomics and ADMET[1] database products to select targets and compounds. Galapagos currently employs 450 people and operates facilities in eight countries, with global headquarters in Mechelen, Belgium. More information about Galapagos and BioFocus DPI can be found at www.glpg.com and www.biofocusdpi.com.
CONTACTS
Galapagos NV
Onno van de Stolpe, CEO
Tel: +31 6 2909 8028
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[1] ADMET is the acronym for Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion, and Toxicity: Meeting parameters against these five criteria is critical to the success of a pharmaceutical compound as a drug.