Galapagos and Merck & Co., Inc. agree to end strategic alliances
(Thomson Reuters ONE) -
· Alliances signed in 2008 and 2009, covering metabolic, cardiovascular
and inflammatory disease
· Strategic change in Merck's early discovery programs resulted in
conclusion of the alliances
· Galapagos regains full rights to all programs from Merck
· Merck pays Galapagos ?12 M for results delivered in 2010
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Mechelen, Belgium; 4 February 2011 - Galapagos NV (Euronext: GLPG) announced
today that it has regained worldwide rights for all assets developed in its
strategic alliances with Merck & Co, Inc. (known as MSD outside the United
States and Canada) through an affiliate, and that the alliances will end. Merck
will make a payment of ?12 million to Galapagos for work completed in 2010.
Including the payment of ?12 million, Galapagos will have received a total of
?20.9 million in upfront and milestone payments derived from the alliances.
Galapagos has regained worldwide rights to the targets discovered and assays
developed from the collaboration.
"In the alliances with Merck, we have discovered promising targets and developed
target discovery assays for diseases with considerable unmet medical needs.
Galapagos now owns these valuable assets which can form the basis for future
alliances," said Onno van de Stolpe, CEO of Galapagos. "The work delivered to
Merck last year also made a strong contribution to Galapagos' financial results
in 2010."
"Changes in our early discovery strategy have required us to make some
challenging decisions," said Kathleen Metters, Senior Vice President, External
Discovery and Preclinical Sciences, at Merck. "We look forward to investigating
alternate opportunities to collaborate with Galapagos in the future."
About Galapagos' assays and validated targets in metabolic, cardiovascular and
inflammatory diseases
Galapagos applied its expertise in working with disease-relevant human primary
cells to develop high throughput assays capable of identifying promising protein
targets and small molecules that modify the disease process. For diabetes and
obesity, these include glucose and glycogen metabolism and an insulin secretion
assay in human primary cells. For atherosclerosis Galapagos identified and
characterized targets that suppress LDL (bad cholesterol) and enhance HDL (good
cholesterol) levels. In addition Galapagos screened a certain type of lung cell
to identify and validate targets that suppress a factor believed to be important
in inflammatory disease.
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 seven clinical and over 50 discovery
programs. Through risk/reward-sharing alliances with GlaxoSmithKline, 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
Onno van de Stolpe, CEO
Tel: +31 6 2909 8028
ir(at)glpg.com
Elizabeth Goodwin, Director Investor Relations
Tel: +31 6 2291 6240
ir(at)glpg.com
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.
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(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and
originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Galapagos NV via Thomson Reuters ONE
[HUG#1485323]
Unternehmensinformation / Kurzprofil:
Datum: 04.02.2011 - 07:15 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 51071
Anzahl Zeichen: 5911
contact information:
Town:
Mechelen
Kategorie:
Business News
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"Galapagos and Merck & Co., Inc. agree to end strategic alliances"
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