Park News

8 August 2007

Galapagos NV Announces Expanded Relationship with AstraZeneca PLC (AZN) (Jobs)

MECHELEN, BELGIUM--(MARKET WIRE)--Aug 8, 2007 -- Mechelen, Belgium; 8 August 2007 - Galapagos NV (Euronext & LSE: GLPG) announced today that its service division, BioFocus DPI, has entered into a new drug discovery collaboration with AstraZeneca (LSE, NYSE, OMX: AZN), a global pharmaceutical leader. Building upon previously announced drug discovery collaborations between the two companies, this collaboration involves BioFocus DPI performing medicinal chemistry, computational chemistry and supporting biology and ADMET services for AstraZeneca's Infection discovery program based in Boston, US. Total contract value for Galapagos will be EUR 680,000.

This announcement marks the third collaboration between AstraZeneca and BioFocus DPI. In August 2006, Galapagos announced BioFocus DPI's first drug discovery collaboration with AstraZeneca. Under a second program initiated in April 2007, BioFocus DPI is performing chemistry and supporting biology and ADME services for an AstraZeneca hit-to-lead program. While these collaborations focused on AstraZeneca's European-based R&D, the agreement announced today expands BioFocus DPI's drug discovery services to AstraZeneca's US-based R&D.

"We now have a global relationship with AstraZeneca, working with several sites based in Europe and the US," said Galapagos' CEO, Onno van de Stolpe. "This type of expansion fits very well with our strategy for growth of the BioFocus DPI service division."

"Our European colleagues have been pleased with the progress of the drug discovery programs ongoing with BioFocus DPI. The decision for our US-based R&D to enter into this collaboration with BioFocus DPI is based on this productivity and the good working relationship between the two companies thus far," added Trevor Trust, Vice President - Infection Discovery at AstraZeneca US.

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