Galapagos
and ProStrakan receive additional milestone payment in antibody
collaboration
Mechelen, Belgium and Galashiels, Scotland; 27 September
2007 - Galapagos NV (Euronext & LSE: GLPG) and ProStrakan
Group plc (LSE: PSK) announced today the achievement of
the third milestone under Galapagos’ collaboration
with Novartis in antibodies for bone-related diseases. Today’s
milestone triggers a payment of $1.5 million to Galapagos.
Galapagos will pay $1,125,000 of this amount to ProStrakan
as part of their December 2006 agreement.
The collaboration was initially
formed between Novartis and ProSkelia SASU (formerly a subsidiary
of ProStrakan) in September 2006. Under the terms of the
original agreement with Novartis, total milestones could
eventually exceed $100 million, with undisclosed royalties
payable on commercialization. The first milestone payment,
which was related to intellectual property, was announced
on 6 December 2006. The collaboration was then transferred
to Galapagos as part of its acquisition of ProSkelia from
ProStrakan on 22 December 2006. Under the terms of Galapagos’
acquisition of ProSkelia, Galapagos and ProStrakan split
milestone and royalty income from agreements existing at
the time of the acquisition 25% for Galapagos and 75% for
ProStrakan, while Galapagos retains all R&D fees.
“We are pleased to
announce another milestone achievement in this collaboration
with Novartis,” said Onno van Stolpe, CEO of Galapagos.
“This milestone further testifies to the strong performance
of the research teams.”
Dr Wilson Totten, Chief
Executive of ProStrakan added, "In addition to the
commercialisation of existing products we continue to benefit
from ongoing milestone payments associated with our ongoing
arrangement with Novartis and Galapagos. I look forward
to further revenues in due course as a result of this collaboration."
About Galapagos
Galapagos (Euronext Brussels, GLPG; Euronext Amsterdam,
GLPGA; London AiM: GLPG) is a drug discovery company with
pre-clinical programs in bone and joint diseases and cachexia.
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. BioFocus DPI also provides adenoviral reagents
for rapid identification and validation of novel drug targets,
compound libraries for drug screening as well as chemogenomics
and ADMET database products to select targets and compounds.
Galapagos currently employs 460 people and operates facilities
in seven countries, with global headquarters in Mechelen,
Belgium. More information about Galapagos and BioFocus DPI
can be found at www.glpg.com
and www.biofocusdpi.com.
About ProStrakan
ProStrakan Group plc is a rapidly growing specialty pharmaceutical
company engaged in the development and commercialisation
of prescription medicines for the treatment of unmet therapeutic
needs in major markets. ProStrakan's head office and development
facilities are situated in Galashiels in Scotland. EU-wide
sales and marketing of ProStrakan's portfolio of products
are handled by commercial subsidiaries in the UK, France,
Germany, Spain and other EU countries. More information
about ProStrakan can be found at www.prostrakan.com.
CONTACT
Galapagos NV
Onno van de Stolpe, CEO
Tel: +31 6 2909 8028
ir@glpg.com
Financial Dynamics (for
ProStrakan)
David Yates / Ben Brewerton
Tel: +44 20 7831 3113
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