GLAXOSMITHKLINE AND GALAPAGOS ENTER STRATEGIC ALLIANCE TO DEVELOP
NOVEL ANTIBACTERIALS AND ANTIVIRALS
Issued - Monday 10 December 2007, London, UK & Mechelen, Belgium
* Discovery and development of novel anti-infective
medicines based on Galapagos' natural product drug discovery
platform
* Up to ¤3.5 million in total technology access fees, up to
¤215 million in total payments for one marketed product and up to
double digit royalties on commercial sales of alliance products
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Galapagos NV (Euronext & LSE: GLPG)
announced today the creation of a multi-year strategic alliance to
develop novel anti-infective drug candidates.
GlaxoSmithKline will participate in the alliance through its
Infectious Diseases Centre of Excellence for Drug Discovery (ID
CEDD). Under the terms of the agreement, Galapagos will grant
GlaxoSmithKline options to license product candidates that are
directed against up to six anti-infective discovery targets.
Galapagos will be responsible for the discovery and development of
natural product small molecule drug candidates through to clinical
Proof of Concept, at which point GSK will have exclusive option to
license each compound for further development and commercialisation
on a worldwide basis. The alliance will utilise the natural product
compound collection and chemistry capabilities of BioFocus DPI,
Galapagos' services division. Galapagos will have the right to
further develop and commercialise compounds for which GSK does not
exercise its option.
Galapagos will receive total upfront fees of up to ¤3.5 million from
GSK, depending on the total number of programmes within the
collaboration. Galapagos could be eligible to receive up to ¤95
million in upfront fees, development and regulatory milestones
payments for each product candidate. If a product is commercialised,
Galapagos may receive up to ¤120 million for achievement of specific
sales milestones. Galapagos is also eligible to receive up to
double-digit royalties on worldwide sales of alliance products.
"This is our first alliance outside bone and joint diseases. It
shows that Galapagos can generate significant business in new
therapeutic areas," said Onno van de Stolpe, Galapagos' CEO. "The
alliance will rely heavily on BioFocus DPI's natural product
discovery capabilities. This alliance fits within our strategy of
executing risk/reward sharing deals with big pharma and at the same
time underscores our M&A approach and successful integration of DPI
into the BioFocus service division."
"Our newly created ID CEDD has been focusing on discovering novel
antibiotics and antivirals, and the natural product collections from
BioFocus DPI have the potential to address our needs," said Zhi Hong,
Senior Vice President and Head of GlaxoSmithKline's ID CEDD. "We
recognise the significant unmet medical needs in hospital or
community-acquired bacterial infections plus life-threatening viral
diseases. It is therefore prudent to explore novel chemical space
and targets that offer new prospects for treatments across a range of
infectious diseases. Galapagos has been a productive collaborator
for GSK in the existing osteoarthritis alliance, and we are confident
this new alliance based on natural products will contribute to the
advancement of our drug discovery and development programmes in
infectious diseases."
About infectious diseases
Infectious diseases are caused by pathogenic micro-organisms such as
bacteria, viruses, parasites or fungi. The diseases can be spread,
directly or indirectly, from one person to another[1]. Infectious
diseases are a leading cause of death worldwide. Existing therapies
against infectious diseases currently account for an estimated ¤45
billion in annual global sales[2]. The need for new therapies is on
the rise due to increasing resistance of micro-organisms to available
therapies.
About BioFocus DPI natural product compounds
Natural products represent a major source of new medicines, as nearly
half of all new drugs brought to market in the last 20 years are
derived from compounds of natural origin. With their unique organic
characteristics, natural compounds are especially important for drug
development against certain target classes. BioFocus DPI's natural
compound collections are based on bacterial and fungal sources,
offering characteristics differentiating these from synthetic
chemistry collections, including high chemical and functional
diversity, potent pharmacological activities over a broad range of
biological targets, and desirable physicochemical properties.
About GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline - one of the world's leading research-based
pharmaceutical and healthcare companies - is committed to improving
the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better
and live longer. More information can be found at www.gsk.com.
About the ID CEDD
The Infectious Diseases Centre of Excellence for Drug Discovery is a
global research unit within GlaxoSmithKline Drug Discovery dedicated
to discovering therapies for infectious diseases including bacterial,
viral and diseases of the developing world such as TB and Malaria.
It is designed to integrate and better coordinate the progression of
infectious diseases medicines from therapeutic hypothesis to clinical
proof of concept. It focuses on building an innovative pipeline
through both internal efforts and external alliances with other
companies and research institutions and will focus on 'virtualising'
a portion of the infectious diseases pipeline by forming multiple
risk-sharing/reward-sharing alliances.
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. Its division BioFocus DPI
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. Galapagos currently employs 460 people and operates
facilities in seven countries, with global headquarters in Mechelen,
Belgium. More information about Galapagos and BioFocus DPI can be
found at www.glpg.com and www.biofocusdpi.com.
GlaxoSmithKline Forward-looking Statements
Under the safe harbour provisions of the U.S. Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the company cautions investors that
any forward-looking statements or projections made by the company,
including those made in this Announcement, are subject to risks and
uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from
those projected. Factors that may affect the Group's operations are
described under 'Risk Factors' in the `Business Review' in the
company's Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2006.
Galapagos Forward-looking Statements
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.
GlaxoSmithKline Enquiries:
UK Media enquiries: Philip Thomson +44 20 8047 5502
Claire Brough +44 20 8047 5502
Alice Hunt +44 20 8047 5502
Joss Mathieson +44 20 8047 5502
US Media enquiries: Nancy Pekarek +1 (215) 751
7709
Mary Anne Rhyne +1 (919) 483
2839
European Analyst/Investor enquiries: David Mawdsley +44 20 8047 5564
Sally Ferguson +44 20 8047 5543
US Analyst/ Investor enquiries: Frank Murdolo +1 (215) 751
7002
Tom Curry +1 (215) 751
5419
Galapagos NV Enquiries:
Onno van de Stolpe, CEO
Tel: +31 6 2909 8028
ir@glpg.com
[1] http://www.who.int/topics/infectious_diseases/en/
[2] Source: GlaxoSmithKline Annual Report 2006