Payment was triggered by the selection of a preclinical candidate and success on another compound.
Galapagos has identified a second preclinical candidate in its osteoarthritis alliance with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). The firm says that it also reached a milestone on another compound in the same alliance. Together these achievements trigger €5.2 million, or about $7.3 million, in payments.
The preclinical candidate was developed by Galapagos against a novel target discovered with its platform. The molecule is now ready for scale-up chemistry and comprehensive safety evaluation, with the goal of entering Phase I in 2010.
“Six months after announcing our first preclinical candidate in this alliance, we are pleased to announce the delivery of a second candidate drug,” said Onno van de Stolpe, CEO of Galapagos. “This achievement illustrates that Galapagos is successfully progressing multiple programs across each alliance, thereby increasing the likelihood of producing novel, disease-modifying therapeutics.”
In June 2006 GSK and Galapagos initiated a program to discover and develop disease-modifying medicines for GSK’s global R&D organization. It called for €137 million in up-front, equity, and milestone fees for two marketable products and up to double-digit royalties. The agreement also stated that Galapagos would be responsible for activities up to Phase IIa development. GSK could exercise its worldwide, exclusive options to further develop and commercialize these compounds.
In July 2007 the companies expanded the deal to include two selected GSK targets, which pushed the total value of the deal up to €186 million. In December 2008 the companies further broadened the scope by including two more drug targets. GSK paid Galapagos €2 million at the time of signing, and the remaining terms related to milestone fees remained the same. To date, Galapagos has reportedly earned more than €30 million in payments from GSK under this alliance.
