Galapagos Achieves GSK Milestone

Galapagos NV has successfully identified a second preclinical candidate compound in its osteoarthritis alliance with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and reached a milestone on another compound, triggering payments to Galapagos totaling $7.3 million.

This small molecule candidate meets all of the chemical and biological criteria set by GSK and is now ready for scale up chemistry and safety studies. Phase I trials are expected to begin in 2010.

“Six months after announcing our first pre-clinical candidate in this alliance, we are pleased to announce the delivery of a second candidate drug,” said Onno van de Stolpe, chief executive officer of Galapagos. “This achievement illustrates that Galapagos is successfully progressing multiple programs across each alliance, thereby increasing the likelihood of producing novel, disease-modifying therapeutics.”

The two companies entered the alliance 
in June 2006 to discover and develop disease-modifying medicines for GSK’s global R&D organization. To date, Galapagos has earned approximately $42 million in payments from GSK under this alliance.