Galapagos has entered into a target licensing and multi-year target identification collaboration in respiratory and inflammatory diseases with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

Within the agreement, GSK gains an exclusive license to novel disease modifying drug targets that have been discovered by Galapagos in its asthma and allergy programme using its siRNA based adenovirus discovery technology.

In addition to the target licensing, GSK entered into a three-year partnership with Galádeno, Galapagos' reagents and services division, to discover further targets that are disease modifying in asthma and inflammatory diseases. Within this collaboration, Galádeno will use its assay development and screening expertise in combination with its SilenceSelect gene knock-down platform to discover and validate novel drug targets in multiple disease pathways. Under the terms of the agreement, Galapagos receives an upfront payment, research funding, and is eligible for milestone payments on targets taken into development by GSK, the company release said.

"We are excited that we have now partnered our asthma programme with the leading player in this disease area," said Onno van de Stolpe, CEO of Galapagos.

"This long term alliance with one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world is an important milestone for our recently established service unit" said Andrea Grant, managing director of Galádeno. "We are looking forward to be working with GSK's disease experts over the coming years and we are confident that we will deliver a continuous stream of novel, well-validated drug targets to their compound screening programmes," Andrea Grant added.

Galapagos is a genomics-based drug discovery company with programmes in osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, Alzheimer's disease and asthma.