BioFocus achieved a major development milestone in a 2008-inked agreement with UCB. Four years ago, BioFocus and UCB entered into a drug discovery and development agreement to identify next-generation treatments for severe diseases. Under the agreement UCB transferred a team of chemists from its previous Cambridge (UK) research site to BioFocus. Together with additional BioFocus staff and UCB scientists, this team then continued their medicinal chemistry work on the UCB program taking compounds toward the candidate selection stage.

BioFocus is the service division of drug discovery company Galapagos. The total contract value for Galapagos was estimated at the time of the agreement to potentially exceed €4 million (approximately $5.2 million). Additionally, Galapagos was eligible to receive up to €500,000 (approximately $655,000) in success payments.

Under the original agreement milestone payments became due when the program achieved certain development goals, and BioFocus is the proud recipient of just such a payment today.

“This milestone payment from UCB demonstrates BioFocus’ ability to support its client projects through to success,” said Chris Newton, svp, Galapagos Services. “This innovative collaboration allows UCB to progress their program externally while applying the specific project expertise that UCB had already built internally.”

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