Mechelen, Belgium; 19 January 2009 – Galapagos NV (Euronext: GLPG) announced today that it has expanded the alliance in antibacterials and antivirals with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to include three more discovery targets. For this expansion, Galapagos receives a payment from GSK of €2 million cash.

In December 2007, GSK and Galapagos initiated a program to discover and develop novel anti-infective drug candidates for GSK’s Infectious Diseases Centre of Excellence in Drug Discovery (ID CEDD). Galapagos is responsible for the discovery and development of natural product drug candidates through to clinical Proof of Concept, at which point GSK will have exclusive option to license each compound for further development and commercialization on a worldwide basis. Today’s agreement further broadens the scope of the alliance between the two companies through the nomination of three additional GSK targets.

Under the terms of the alliance, Galapagos could be eligible to receive up to €95 million in upfront fees, development and regulatory milestones payments for each product candidate. If a product is commercialized, Galapagos may receive up to €120 million for achievement of specific sales milestones. Galapagos is also eligible to receive up to double-digit royalties on worldwide sales of alliance products.

“Following on the success and expansion of our osteoarthritis alliance, we are pleased that GSK has also expanded the anti-infectives alliance to include three additional targets,” said Onno van de Stolpe, Chief Executive Officer of Galapagos. “Together with the current programs advancing toward the clinic, we aim to progress these new anti-infective targets to deliver Phase IIa clinical candidates to GSK.”

About infectious diseases
Infectious diseases are caused by pathogenic micro-organisms such as bacteria, viruses, parasites or fungi. The diseases can be spread, directly or indirectly, from one person to another 1. Infectious diseases are a leading cause of death worldwide. Existing therapies against infectious diseases currently account for an estimated €45 billion in annual global sales 2. The need for new therapies is on the rise due to increasing resistance of micro-organisms to available therapies.

About Galapagos
Galapagos (Euronext: GLPG; OTC: GLPYY) 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. BioFocus DPI also provides adenoviral reagents for rapid identification and validation of novel drug targets, compound libraries for drug screening as well as ADMET products to select compounds. Galapagos currently employs 460 people and operates facilities in six countries, with global headquarters in Mechelen, Belgium. More information about Galapagos can be found at www.glpg.com.

CONTACT
Galapagos NV
Onno van de Stolpe, CEO
Tel: +31 6 2909 8028
ir@glpg.com

This release may contain forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements containing the words “believes,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “seeks,” “estimates,” “may,” “will,” “could,” “stands to,” and “continues,” as well as similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which might cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of Galapagos, or industry results, to be materially different from any historic or future results, financial conditions, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Given these uncertainties, the reader is advised not to place any undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of publication of this document. Galapagos expressly disclaims any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements in this document to reflect any change in its expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based, unless required by law or regulation.

1 http://www.who.int/topics/infectious_diseases/en/
2 Source: GlaxoSmithKline Annual Report 2006