Agreement could be worth over $580 million in success-based fees to Galapagos.
Roche is paying Galapagos €6 million (about $8.7 million) up front as part of a multiyear alliance to develop new treatments for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Galapagos could potentially receive in excess of another €400 million (roughly $580.32 million) in discovery, development, regulatory, and sales milestones.
Under the terms of the partnership, Galapagos will use its discovery platform to identify novel COPD targets. The company will also be responsible for the discovery and development of new small molecule candidates against the new targets.
Roche has an exclusive option to license each small molecule program either after clinical-candidate selection or after the completion of Phase I trials. On exercising an option the company will take over all further development and commercialization. Roche may also license the COPD targets for the discovery and development of novel antibodies.
