Galapagos NV has successfully achieved a pre-clinical candidate drug in its osteoarthritis alliance with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Galapagos also reached milestones on other compounds in the alliance, triggering payments totalling €7.6 million to Galapagos. To date, Galapagos has earned a total of €25.5 million in payments from GSK under this alliance.

The pre-clinical candidate drug is a small molecule that meets all the chemical and biological criteria set by GSK for a potential new drug. The candidate was developed by Galapagos against a novel target discovered with Galapagos' proprietary platform. The molecule is now ready for scale up chemistry and comprehensive safety evaluation, with the aim to enter the clinical research phase within a 12-month time frame.

In June 2006, GSK and Galapagos initiated a program to discover and develop disease-modifying drugs for GSK's global R&D organization. Through the agreement, Galapagos broadened its drug discovery portfolio in the field of osteoarthritis, with the aim to develop candidate drugs through to successful Proof of Concept in clinical research phase-IIa. GSK has exclusive options to further develop and commercialize these compounds on a worldwide basis. In July 2007, GSK and Galapagos signed an expansion to include two selected GSK targets. In December 2008, the companies further broadened the scope of the alliance through the inclusion of two more drug targets.

"Today's announced milestones are strong evidence of Galapagos' ability to deliver consistently on its alliances," said Onno van de Stolpe, chief executive officer of Galapagos. "In the osteoarthritis alliance with GSK we have moved from target to a pre-clinical candidate drug in less than 2.5 years for the lead program and have multiple additional compounds in progress. With this broad portfolio of compounds, the alliance is well positioned to deliver disease-modifying drug candidates to GSK."

Galapagos is a drug discovery company with pre-clinical programs in bone and joint diseases and bone metastasis.