Galapagos NV Signs Research Agreement with University College London

Mechelen, Belgium, 19 May 2008 - Galapagos NV (Euronext: GLPG) announced today that is has signed a drug discovery research agreement with UCL (University College London). Galapagos' BioFocus DPI service division will perform medicinal chemistry services for a UCL research project. It is also intended that BioFocus DPI will offer UCL ADME[1] screening facilities during the appropriate stages of the work. Total contract value for Galapagos is expected to reach more than EUR 1.8 million over the course of the two-year agreement.

UCL has an ongoing drug discovery program for the treatment of vascular collapse during sepsis (collapsing of blood vessels due to systemic infection by a pathogen). BioFocus DPI will provide medicinal chemistry services to progress UCL's lead series through to pre-clinical testing. In addition UCL will also have the opportunity to utilize BioFocus DPI ADME screening services and will receive access to a selection of compounds in BioFocus DPI's SoftFocus collection to facilitate the identification of new chemical starting points for this drug discovery program.

"We are pleased to add UCL to BioFocus DPI's considerable list of academic partners," said Onno van de Stolpe, CEO of Galapagos. "BioFocus DPI's leading medicinal chemistry and ADME expertise, such as the newly launched ADME/PK Laboratory, give us a strong edge in winning highly competitive deals."

About Galapagos

Galapagos (Euronext Brussels: GLPG; Euronext Amsterdam: GLPGA; OTC: GLPYY) is a drug discovery company with pre-clinical programs in bone and joint diseases and bone metastasis. Its BioFocus DPI division 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 database products to select targets and compounds. Galapagos currently employs 450 people and operates facilities in six 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.

CONTACT Galapagos NV Onno van de Stolpe, CEO Tel: +31 6 2909 8028 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.

[1] ADME is the acronym for Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism and Excretion; meeting parameters against these criteria is critical to the success of a pharmaceutical compound as a drug.

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Source: Galapagos NV