Galapagos NV and the National Cancer Institute Sign Compound Management Agreement

MECHELEN, BELGIUM and SAFFRON WALDEN, UK--(Marketwire - October 12, 2010) -

Galapagos NV (Euronext: GLPG) announced today that the Compound Focus subsidiary of its BioFocus service division has signed an agreement with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). Under the terms of the agreement, BioFocus will provide compound management services to NCI for a base period of three years for a total of up to $5 million (EUR3.7 M), with two one-year extension options.

BioFocus runs a compound management facility for a number of industrial and U.S. government customers out of its Compound Focus, Inc. subsidiary in South San Francisco. Under the agreement announced today, Compound Focus will establish a Small Molecule Repository for the NCI Chemical Biology Consortium (CBC). This repository will form part of the CBC’s drug discovery and development platform for new oncology therapeutics being researched by a consortium of primarily academic institutions. The base three year contract is funded by American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds.

“We are pleased to welcome the National Cancer Institute as a new collaborator. Compound Focus has done very well to expand their long-standing relationship with the NIH into this new project with the NCI,” said Onno van de Stolpe, CEO of Galapagos. “Our compound management facility has met or exceeded its revenue objectives since we acquired it in 2006, making it a solid contributor to our service division’s revenue stream.”

About the NCI Chemical Biology Consortium (CBC)

The goal of CBC is to establish a complete drug discovery and development platform for oncology therapeutics by the formation of a new and novel network which combines academic and private drug discovery efforts with the NCI Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis’ (DCTD) existing pre-clinical resources. The project is funded in whole with U.S. Federal funds from the National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under contract HHS-N- 261-2010-00079C with Compound Focus, Inc.

About Compound Focus

Compound Focus, Inc. is part of the Galapagos service division BioFocus and provides a range of compound management services. It is home to sample collections owned by government, academic and commercial organizations and to theNational Institutes of Health Molecular Libraries Small Molecule Repository. BioFocus aims to expand its partners’ drug pipelines by accelerating the gene- to-drug candidate discovery process. This is achieved through a comprehensive discovery platform, which includes target discovery in human primary cells, focused as well as diverse compound libraries, in vitro and cell-based screening, structural biology, medicinal chemistry, ADME/PK services, supported by unique chemogenomic and informatics tools, and compound library acquisition, storage and distribution services. As a service division of Galapagos, BioFocus has over 250 employees in four countries worldwide. More info at: www.biofocus.com

About Galapagos

Galapagos (Euronext: GLPG; OTC: GLPYY) is a mid-size biotechnology company specialized in the discovery and development of small molecule and antibody therapies with novel modes-of-action. The Company is progressing one of the largest pipelines in biotech, with six clinical and over 50 small molecule discovery/pre-clinical programs. Through risk/reward-sharing alliances with GlaxoSmithKline, Lilly, Janssen Pharmaceutica, Merck & Co., Roche and Servier, Galapagos is eligible to receive up to EUR3.3 billion in downstream milestones, plus royalties. Following the acquisition of the Zagreb research center, the Galapagos Group now has over 800 employees and operates facilities in seven countries, with global headquarters in Mechelen, Belgium. More info at: www.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.

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