Galapagos NV announced that it has reached the first milestone in its osteoporosis collaboration with Eli Lilly and company, triggering a payment of €1 million from Lilly.

In December 2007, Lilly and Galapagos initiated a programme to develop new medicines for the treatment of osteoporosis. The agreement provides Lilly access to 12 of Galapagos' novel proprietary osteoporosis targets that play a role in bone formation. Galapagos is responsible for the development of drug candidates through to phase IIa clinical Proof of Concept.

Under the terms of the agreement, Lilly will have the exclusive option to further develop and commercialize these candidates on a worldwide basis. Galapagos will have the right to further develop and commercialize compounds for which Lilly does not exercise its option. In addition to the €3 million upfront payment received from Lilly, Galapagos is eligible to receive up to €88 million in discovery, development and regulatory milestones for each target program. Furthermore, should a product be commercialized, Galapagos could receive up to €130 million of one-time sales milestones and up to double-digit royalties on worldwide sales of alliance products.

"The achievement of this first milestone within six months of initiating the alliance with Lilly demonstrates Galapagos' ability to deliver on its commitments in line with expectations," said Onno van de Stolpe, Galapagos' CEO. "Each milestone that Galapagos reaches in its pharma alliances reduces both the scientific and financial risk of these programs."

Osteoporosis is principally an ageing -related disease, when hormone levels essential for maintaining bone density decline. The development of osteoporosis is characterized by a clinically significant reduction in bone density. The disease is four times as common in women as men. The enormous health care costs associated with osteoporosis, estimated at $15 billion per year in the USA alone, are related to the greatly increased incidence of fractures in osteoporosis patients.

Galapagos is a drug discovery company with pre-clinical programmes in bone and joint diseases and bone metastasis. Its BioFocus DPI division 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.