March 10, 2015
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
MECHELEN, Belgium – Filgotinib, an arthritis medication developed by Belgian drugmaker Galapagos NV is attracting the attention of pharmaceutical giants AbbVie and Johnson & Johnson , Bloomberg reported Tuesday.
Filgotinib, also known as GLPG0634, is being developed to treat a number of inflammatory diseases including rheumatoid arthritis. Both AbbVie and Johnson & Johnson currently have stakes in Galapagos, but if the new arthritis drug pans out, the companies may fight to acquire Galapagos, especially since both companies will be losing patent protection on their own arthritis medications, Humira and Remicade. Humira makes up more than half of AbbVie’s revenue. In February, Galapagos, a $650 million Belgian drugmaker, completed the first half of a two-part 24-week clinical trial testing Filgotinib. The DARWIN 1 trial tested 599 patients with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis who did not respond well to methotrexate. Select patients received Galapagos’ medication is administered in pill form, unlike Humira and Remicade, which are administered in a shot.
Galapagos expects to announce the results of the first 12 weeks of the clinical trial sometime in April, and then continue trials for another 12 weeks. Results from DARIN II are expected to be reported sometime in May.
“We see 98 percent of eligible patients who complete DARWIN I and II enrolling in DARWIN III, with 400 patients now in the long term extension study. The fact that investigators and patients see benefit in continuing treatment with filgotinib gives confidence,” Piet Wigericnk, chief science officer for Galapagos, said in a press release.
If trials play out as the companies hope, Filgotinib could be worth $2.2 billion in sales, Bloomberg reported, which would make it an attractive candidate for an acquisition. In addition to AbbVie and Johnson & Johnson, Amgen , the maker of the arthritis treatment Enbrel, may also be interested in pursuing an acquisition.
The prospects of the medication have been on the radar of other companies for years. Nine companies competed for rights to help Galapagos develop and sell Filgotinib more than three years ago, according to reports.
Patients spend an estimated $27 billion annually on treatments for rheumatoid arthritis. Humira, manufactured by AbbVie, generated $12.5 billion in sales last year and Remicade, manufactured by Johnson & Johnson, generated $6.9 billion in revenue. /is expecting to begin to lose patent protection on Humira in 2016.
Galapagos stocks were slightly down this morning.
BioSpace Temperature Poll
Vertex Pharmaceuticals made news last week when it terminated leases on three properties in Cambridge, Mass, that freed up 313,000 square feet of space in the Genetown area. The company has spent a significant part of 2014 consolidating its operations on the South Boston waterfront, leasing 291,000 square feet of office space at West Kendall Street in Cambridge’s Kendall Square. So we wanted to ask the BioSpace community: Is Boston going to be getting more biotech leases anytime soon, or fewer tenants?
