Mechelen, Belgium; 13 November 2009 – Galapagos NV (Euronext: GLPG) announces today that third quarter 2009 operational and financial results were in line with management expectations. These results encourage the Company to retain full year guidance of €100 million revenues, a growth of 30% compared to 2008. Galapagos’ service division BioFocus will significantly increase its cash contribution to the Group result for the full year 2009. With operational cash burn also on track, Galapagos management increases guidance for year-end 2009 cash position to €38 million due to the successful €18.2 million private placement completed in October.
Galapagos also achieved progress in its development programs in the third quarter. The Company announced that its most advanced first-in-class program, GLPG0259 for rheumatoid arthritis, demonstrated safety and an excellent pharmacokinetic profile in a first Phase I study; this compound started a second Phase I study in September. Galapagos has completed its first-in-human trial for the IRA program in bone metastasis (GLPG0187) and expects to announce top-line results at the start of 2010. With Nanocort starting Phase II studies for the treatment of MS flares shortly and the first candidate drug from the osteoarthritis alliance with GSK entering the clinic next month, Galapagos is on-track to have four programs in clinical development by the end of 2009.
Furthermore in the third quarter, the Company announced milestones in its arthritis alliance with GlaxoSmithKline and its osteoporosis alliance with Lilly. BioFocus signed agreements with Procter & Gamble and Schering-Plough, and strengthened its network of cutting-edge capabilities through partnerships with Oncodesign and DiscoveRx. In September, Galapagos announced a collaboration with Charley’s Fund and the Nash Avery Foundation to investigate the potential effectiveness of Galapagos’ SARM candidate drug (GLPG0492) for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. In October, Galapagos reached the first milestone in the anti-infectives alliance with GlaxoSmithKline and expanded the metabolic diseases alliance with Merck & Co to include atherosclerosis.
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 GlaxoSmithKline, 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
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