Galapagos awarded grant to accelerate drug discovery
Mechelen, Belgium; 11 February 2009 - Galapagos NV (Euronext: GLPG)
announces today that it has been awarded a ¤837,000 grant from the
Flanders government through the Institute for the Promotion of
Innovation by Science and Technology (IWT). Galapagos will elucidate
the structure of novel drug targets and related small molecules in
its bone & joint disease portfolio.
The two-year project "Drug discovery for bone and joint protection:
structural biology for novel targets and their inhibitors" focuses on
Galapagos' novel drug targets and the candidate drugs that bind to
these targets. This information will help Galapagos to design potent
and selective drugs and thus potentially improve their efficacy to
treat bone and joint diseases. Galapagos will collaborate on this
project with the renowned Structural Biology Brussels group at the
Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB).
"This grant gives us an opportunity to collaborate with the VIB's top
structural biology group, thereby adding to our drug discovery
capabilities," said Graham Dixon, SVP Drug Discovery for Galapagos.
"Through this research we aim to progress our understanding of these
novel drug targets and accelerate the development of candidate drugs
for bone & joint diseases."
About Galapagos
Galapagos (Euronext: GLPG; OTC: GLPYY) is a drug discovery and
development company with small molecule programs in bone and joint
diseases, bone metastasis, cachexia, anti-infectives and metabolic
diseases. It has established risk sharing alliances with GSK,
Janssen Pharmaceutica, Eli Lilly and Merck. Through an alliance with
MorphoSys, Galapagos is also developing new antibody therapies in
bone and joint diseases. Its division BioFocus DPI offers a full
suite of target-to-drug discovery products and services to
pharmaceutical and biotech companies and to patient foundations,
encompassing target discovery and validation, screening and drug
discovery through to delivery of pre-clinical candidates. Galapagos
currently employs 470 people and operates facilities in six
countries, with global headquarters in Mechelen, Belgium. More info
at: www.glpg.com.
About the Structural Biology Brussels Lab
The Structural Biology Brussels Lab, headed by Jan Steyaert was
founded by Lode Wyns in the seventies at the Vrije Universiteit
Brussel and is one of the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology
departments. The understanding of the function of a protein, from
its structure to its dynamics, remains the central theme of the lab.
The multidisciplinary team of about 40 researchers is housed in new
laboratory facilities and combines extensive expertise in biophysics
and molecular biology. More information at:
www.structuralbiology.be.
CONTACT
Galapagos NV
Graham Dixon, SVP Drug Discovery
Tel: +32 473 86 87 51
ir@glpg.com
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