Mechelen, Belgium; 20 April 2011 - Galapagos NV (Euronext: GLPG) announced today that its BioFocus service division has delivered a panel of validated oncology targets in its collaboration with Janssen Research & Development, a division of Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V. (Janssen). Per the agreement, Janssen retains full rights to discover, develop and commercialize novel medicines on these targets.
In January 2008, BioFocus entered into a fee-for-service target discovery collaboration with Janssen, under which BioFocus developed assays in cancer cells, and discovered and validated novel targets. In January 2010, BioFocus received a target acceptance payment from Janssen for identifying and validating drug targets. BioFocus has now confirmed the activity of a panel of targets across several key pathways in oncology, per contractually defined criteria. BioFocus may receive success-based payments should certain downstream criteria be reached by Janssen.
“We continue to see strong demand for our target discovery capabilities and this collaboration is an example of how we deliver novelty to pharmaceutical pipelines,” said Onno van de Stolpe, Chief Executive Officer of Galapagos.
About BioFocus
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 245 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 programs in development and over 50 discovery programs. Through risk/reward-sharing alliances with GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly, Janssen Pharmaceutica, Roche and Servier, Galapagos is eligible to receive up to €2.5 billion in downstream milestones, plus royalties. The Galapagos Group has over 800 employees and operates facilities in seven countries, with global headquarters in Mechelen, Belgium. More info at: www.glpg.com
CONTACT
Galapagos NV
Elizabeth Goodwin, Director Investor Relations
Tel: +31 6 2291 6240
ir@glpg.com
