Galapagos, GSK Expand Anti-Infectives Alliance

Galapagos NV has expanded its anti-infectives alliance with GlaxoSmithKline to include three more discovery targets. Galapagos will receive a payment of $2.7 million from GSK.

In December 2007, the two companies initiated a program to discover and develop new antibacterial and antiviral drug candidates for GSK’s Infectious Diseases Centre of Excellence in Drug Discovery (ID CEDD). Galapagos is responsible for the discovery and development of natural product drug candidates through to clinical Proof of Concept, and GSK will have an option to license each compound for further development and commercialization on a worldwide basis.

Under the terms of the alliance, Galapagos could be eligible to receive as much as $126 million in upfront fees, development and regulatory milestones for each product candidate. If a product is commercialized, Galapagos is eligible to receive as much as $159 million in sales milestones and royalties on sales.

“Following on the success and expansion of our osteoarthritis alliance, we are pleased that GSK has also expanded the anti-infectives alliance to include three additional targets,” said Onno van de Stolpe, chief executive officer of Galapagos. “Together with the current programs advancing toward the clinic, we aim to progress these new anti-infective targets to deliver Phase IIa clinical candidates to GSK.”