Galapagos NV announced that its service division BioFocus DPI has extended its longstanding drug discovery collaboration with Amgen through 2009 and 2010. BioFocus DPI will continue to provide biology, computational and medicinal chemistry services and will supply small molecule compounds for use in Amgen's discovery programmes. Under the terms of the extended agreement, Galapagos will receive €2.0 M ($2.55 M) in research fees per year for two years. Additionally, Galapagos is eligible to receive compensation in the form of access fees and success-based milestones.

The collaboration, which was initiated in 2003 and extended in 2006, involves the identification of new molecules against drug targets from various protein classes, including ion channels, GPCRs and kinases.

"We are pleased to extend our strong collaborative relationship with Amgen," said Dr Chris Newton, senior VP BioFocus DPI. "We are looking forward to applying our screening expertise and unique compound libraries to continue to provide lead candidates for Amgen's discovery programs over the next two years."

Galapagos is a drug discovery company with pre-clinical programs in bone and joint diseases and bone metastasis. Its division BioFocus DPI offers a full suite of target-to-drug discovery products and services to pharmaceutical and biotech companies, encompassing target discovery and validation, screening and drug discovery through to delivery of pre-clinical candidates.