Galapagos Receives €2.5 Million IWT Grant for Antibiotic Research
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Galapagos NV has announced that the Flemish Agency for Innovation through Science and Technology (IWT) has awarded a €2.5 million grant to support the development of Galapagos’ novel antibiotics in a collaboration project with Prof. Goossens from the University of Antwerp (UA).
GLPG1492 (‘1492) is a narrow spectrum antibiotic with a novel mode-of-action against all
Staphylococcus aureas strains, including MRSA, the bacteria for which due to resistance, few treatment options are available. Galapagos plans for ‘1492 to be dosed in healthy volunteers (Phase 1) in 2015. ‘1492 has shown excellent antibacterial efficacy, with broad coverage of all known MRSA strains. The novel mode of action for ‘1492 can be utilized as a platform for addressing gram positive and gram negative bacteria that pose major public health threats, including the ESKAPE pathogens. ‘1492 is fully proprietary to Galapagos.
Today’s grant, awarded via the transformational medical research (TGO) program, was for the project ‘Partnering tiered clinical Phase II anti-MRSA antibiotic with rapid diagnostic test development,’ in which Galapagos will collaborate with the Laboratory of Medical Microbiology of UA.
In this project, innovative clinical research will be explored, allowing for more efficient development of narrow spectrum antibiotics targeted at combatting resistance. To further support the pathogenic focus, rapid diagnostic test development will be set up. The UA will perform basic research focusing on further understanding of antibiotic resistance mechanisms.
“We appreciate the support of the IWT for our research,” said Dr Piet Wigerinck, Chief Scientific Officer of Galapagos. “There is a large unmet medical need for small spectrum antibiotics addressing MRSA and other major public health threats.”
Herman Goossens, Head of the Microbiology laboratory of the UA, commented: “By funding this Public Private Partnership between Galapagos and the UA, we should be able to give fresh impetus to the successful development of new drugs against multi-resistant bugs that have already killed so many people worldwide.”
