Mechelen, Belgium; 7 July 2009 – Galapagos NV (Euronext: GLPG) announced today that it has successfully identified a second pre-clinical candidate compound in its osteoarthritis alliance with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Galapagos also reached a milestone on another compound in the alliance. Together these milestones trigger payments totaling €5.2 million to Galapagos.
This pre-clinical candidate is a small molecule that meets all the chemical and biological criteria set by GSK for a potential new medicine. The candidate was developed by Galapagos against a novel target discovered with Galapagos’ proprietary platform. The molecule is now ready for scale up chemistry and comprehensive safety evaluation, with the goal of entering Phase I clinical research in 2010.
“Six months after announcing our first pre-clinical candidate in this alliance, we are pleased to announce the delivery of a second candidate drug,” said Onno van de Stolpe, Chief Executive Officer of Galapagos. “This achievement illustrates that Galapagos is successfully progressing multiple programs across each alliance, thereby increasing the likelihood of producing novel, disease-modifying therapeutics.”
About the osteoarthritis alliance
In June 2006, GSK and Galapagos initiated a program to discover and develop disease-modifying medicines for GSK’s global R&D organization. Through the agreement, Galapagos broadened its drug discovery portfolio in the field of osteoarthritis, with the aim of developing new candidates through to Proof of Concept in Phase IIa. After this point, GSK has exclusive options to further develop and commercialize these compounds on a worldwide basis. In July 2007, GSK and Galapagos signed an expansion to include two selected GSK targets and in December 2008, the companies further broadened the scope of the alliance through the inclusion of two more drug targets.
In its osteoarthritis program with GSK, Galapagos has identified a number of novel targets that have been validated in cellular disease models and these have progressed into drug discovery. In less than three years, Galapagos has advanced this program from target validation to drug development, delivering two pre-clinical candidate compounds. To date, Galapagos has earned more than €30 million in payments from GSK under this alliance.
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. Through an alliance with MorphoSys, Galapagos is also developing new antibody therapies in bone and joint diseases. Its division BioFocus DPI 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 490 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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