GALAPAGOS EXPECTS 4Q ’05 REVENUES TO MEET GUIDANCE, REDUCED FULL YEAR 2005 CASH BURN

 

Trading update

Galapagos (Euronext & LSE: GLPG) announced today that it expects fourth quarter 2005 consolidated revenues to meet previous guidance of € 7.7 million, and full year cash burn for 2005 to be lower than guidance of € 7 million. 

At the presentation of the third quarter financials on November 10, 2005, Galapagos provided guidance to the market for its last quarter revenues in view of the BioFocus acquisition.  Total consolidated revenues for full year 2005 will be € 11 million, compared to € 7.8 million for full year 2004.  The BioFocus product offering, ranging from target discovery through to lead optimization, continues to win business due to the versatility of the technology, the breadth of the product offering and the expertise of its staff in the drug discovery process.  Financial control measures enabled the Company to keep the cash burn lower than the guidance of € 7 million, while still allowing for the progress achieved in the Company’s own drug discovery pipeline.  Consolidation of BioFocus results is effective from October 12, 2005, to be published in Galapagos’ Full Year 2005 Results on March 3, 2006.

 

 

On November 10, 2005, Galapagos announced encouraging results in one of its rheumatoid arthritis (RA) projects, showing an important reduction in disease-causing cytokines in mice, the generally accepted animal model for RA.  Moving forward with these encouraging data, Galapagos announced today achievement of a Proof of Concept in its RA program, showing a reduction in paw swelling in mice.  Today’s results further validate the Company’s drug discovery engine and give indication that with appropriate optimization, this early stage series of chemical compounds shows potential to deliver a novel therapeutic for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. In its Alzheimer’s disease program, in vivo data from a mouse model remain inconclusive.  Based on today’s results, Galapagos will prioritize its drug discovery program in bone and joint diseases and accelerate the development of the compounds in its RA program.

 

 

Dr. David Stone, aged 59, is currently Chairman at Cambridge Biostability Ltd. and non-executive Chairman of Cambridge Sensors Ltd. and ERBI Ltd.  Dr. Stone is a founder of BioFocus and was Chairman of the company from 2003 until October 2005.  Prior to this, Dr. Stone held the position of Chief Executive Officer of BioFocus.  From 1974 – 1996 he held a number of positions within the Wellcome Research Laboratories.  Dr. Stone holds a BSc and PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Birmingham and is the author of more than 50 publications. 

 

Henry Geoffrey (Geoff) McMillan, aged 49, is currently non-executive director of Maelor Plc and has over twenty years’ experience within the pharma and biopharma sectors.  He joined BioFocus as COO in 2002 and was CEO of the company from May 2003 to October 2005.  Prior to this, Mr. McMillan was with Elan where he was instrumental in the development of Elan internationally.  In 1993, he joined the board of Xenova Group Plc as Commercial Director.  Before this, he was Global Head of Business Development and Planning and a member of Roche’s Pharmaceutical Division board.  At the start of his career he held several sales and marketing positions at Smith and Nephew.

 

Both appointments are for dependent, non-executive Board Member positions and are for a period that ends with the AGM that will be requested to approve the accounts over fiscal year 2008.  There are no further details to be disclosed under Schedule 2(g) and Rule 17 of the AIM rules.

 

During the Extraordinary General Shareholders’ Meeting held on January 6, 2006, all other agenda points were approved, including a grant of warrants to Mr. Stone and Mr. McMillan and a modification to the Company’s articles of association where they relate to the authorized capital.

 

 

Galapagos is a publicly traded, genomics-based drug discovery company (Euronext Brussels, GLPG; Euronext Amsterdam, GLPGA, London AiM: GLPG) that has drug discovery programs based on proprietary, novel targets in the bone and joint diseases – osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis.  Galapagos offers a full suite of target-to-drug discovery products and services to pharmaceutical and biotech companies through its division BioFocus, encompassing target discovery and validation, and drug discovery services through to delivery of pre-clinical candidates.  In addition, BioFocus provides adenoviral reagents for rapid identification and validation of novel drug targets and compound libraries for screening.  Galapagos currently employs 203 people, including 76 PhDs, and occupies facilities in Mechelen, Belgium, Saffron Walden, UK and Leiden, The Netherlands.  The partners of Galapagos include Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Celgene, GlaxoSmithKline, Idenix, Novartis, Organon, Serono, Vertex, and Wyeth.  More information about Galapagos and BioFocus can be found at www.glpg.com.