Galapagos Extends Drug Discovery Collaboration with Lilly in Nuclear Hormone Receptor Research

Galapagos NV has announced has that its service division BioFocus DPI has extended its drug discovery agreement with Eli Lilly and Company until end 2008.

Under the terms of the agreement, BioFocus DPI will screen certain compounds as provided by Lilly against certain selected assays in quarterly screening regimes to identify active compounds and provide selectivity information to Lilly for Lilly’s nuclear hormone receptor research program. Total contract extension value for Galapagos is expected to exceed $1.2 million.

The agreement extension builds on the successful collaboration begun in March 2005. BioFocus DPI has been working with Lilly on discovering new compounds that target nuclear hormone receptors, a class of proteins that, when bound to specific sequences of DNA, serve as on-off switches for controlling the development and differentiation of skin, bone, and behavioral centers in the brain, as well as the continual regulation of reproductive tissues.

With this agreement, Lilly secures continued access to BioFocus DPI’s screening and biology expertise to discover compounds which “hit” these nuclear hormone receptors.

The extension agreement announced today is unrelated to the major collaboration with Lilly in osteoporosis that Galapagos announced on 19 December 2007, in which Galapagos’ drug discovery division will be responsible for the development of novel osteoporosis drug candidates potentially through to phase IIa clinical Proof of Concept.

“We are pleased to progress our relationship with Lilly, also as a service provider in drug discovery,” said Onno van de Stolpe, Chief Executive Officer of Galapagos. “This extension further demonstrates the ability of BioFocus DPI to build upon its success with existing big pharma relationships.”