Galapagos and Prolysis Extend Research Collaboration

Galapagos NV and Prolysis Ltd have announced an extension of the research collaboration started earlier this year. BioFocus, the service division of Galapagos, is progressing a lead optimisation program for Prolysis to identify dual enzyme inhibitors that can overcome the problem of antibiotic resistance.

Under the terms of the collaboration, Prolysis will fund BioFocus research for medicinal chemistry work throughout 2006. Prolysis also has the option to access in vitro ADMET and computational chemistry services from BioFocus during that period.

"Progress made in the collaboration with Prolysis indicates how BioFocus' drug discovery services can accelerate a development program," said Onno van de Stolpe, Chief Executive Officer of Galapagos.

"We are pleased that Prolysis, a leader in anti-bacterial agent discovery and development, chooses BioFocus to move this key project through lead optimisation to development candidate nomination." 
 
Steve Ruston, Chief Executive Officer of Prolysis, added, "We have been very pleased with the quality of the collaboration with BioFocus to date and look forward to it making a substantial contribution to achieving our business objectives in the coming year."