NIH Prolongs Compound-Management Arrangement with Galapagos Until End of 2012

NIH has extended its agreement with Galapagos' service division, BioFocus, for the operation of the Molecular Libraries Small Molecule Repository (MLSMR) through December 2012. Galapagos will thus be eligible to receive up to $8.6 million over the course of the two-year extension.

The NIH MLSMR collects samples for high-throughput biological screening and distributes them to the NIH Molecular Libraries Screening Center Network. The project is funded in whole with U.S. federal funds from the NIH and HHS.

BioFocus has a compound-management facility in South San Francisco that has been home to the MLSMR since 2004. The facility runs out of BioFocus’ subsidiary, Compound Focus, and stores compounds under an NIH contract for a number of industrial and U.S. government customers.

Compound Focus is also in charge of distributing these compounds for high-throughput biological screening throughout the NIH's academic network in the U.S. “BioFocus has proven that it consistently delivers high-quality service across the vast NIH screening center network,” says Onno van de Stolpe, CEO of Galapagos.