Galapagos Announces Milestone in Collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim

Galapagos NV has announced that its BioFocus DPI service division has received a milestone payment in the autoimmune discovery research collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim.

The three-year collaboration announced in January 2006 involves an expansion of BioFocus DPI's SilenceSelect® sh-RNA based gene collection with an additional gene set, the development of a dedicated cellular assay in the field of autoimmune diseases, and its application in a target discovery screen for Boehringer Ingelheim's autoimmune discovery research.

Galapagos obtained upfront fees, will continue to receive research and development funding, and will receive milestone fees when certain drug discovery criteria are met. Should all criteria on a target be achieved, total potential contract value for Galapagos may exceed €2 million.

"This milestone speaks to BioFocus DPI's ability to deliver on longer term, higher value collaborations," said Onno van de Stolpe, Chief Executive Officer of Galapagos. "We are delighted that the collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim has progressed as planned and is on track to continue delivering value."