Thu 03 Jan 2008
Mechelen, Belgium; 3 January 2008 – Galapagos NV (Euronext & LSE: GLPG) announced today a new two-year target discovery collaboration between Janssen Pharmaceutica and BioFocus DPI, Galapagos’ service division, in the field of oncology. BioFocus DPI will apply Galapagos’ proprietary adenoviral platform to identify novel drug targets for the development of cancer therapies.
The goal of the new collaboration will be to discover and validate novel targets in the field of oncology. BioFocus DPI will perform assay development, screening of the SilenceSelect® and FLeXSelect® adenoviral libraries, and target validation. Target discovery in cutting edge in vitro assays may provide novel drug targets for cancer areas with an unmet medical need. BioFocus DPI receives an upfront payment of €2.9 million. In total, BioFocus DPI may receive additional research, acceptance, license and development fees of up to €7.6 million should certain predetermined criteria be achieved.
“This marks BioFocus DPI’s first target discovery agreement in oncology, as well as the largest target discovery agreement to date for the service division,” said Onno van de Stolpe, Chief Executive Officer of Galapagos.
About BioFocus DPI
BioFocus DPI is the service division of Galapagos. It 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. More information about BioFocus DPI can be found at www.biofocusdpi.com.
About Galapagos
Galapagos (Euronext Brussels, GLPG; Euronext Amsterdam, GLPGA; London AiM: GLPG) is a drug discovery company with pre-clinical programs in bone and joint diseases and cachexia. Galapagos currently employs 460 people and operates facilities in seven countries, with global headquarters in Mechelen, Belgium. More information about Galapagos can be found at www.glpg.com.