| Bayer
Healthcare and Galapagos in Target Discovery Collaboration
Mechelen,
Belgium, December 16, 2003 – Galapagos Genomics today announced
a target discovery collaboration with Bayer HealthCare AG. Within
the partnership, the Companies will collaborate to discover and
validate novel drug targets for Bayer’s disease areas. Galapagos
will use its disease biology expertise in combination with its SilenceSelectTM
and FLeXSelectTM target discovery collections to identify
and validate drugable targets. Under the terms of the agreement,
Bayer HealthCare has the exclusive right to select validated targets
for drug development in return for upfront payments, research funding
and milestones. Further financial terms were not disclosed.
“We
are very pleased to be selected by Bayer HealthCare,” said
Onno van de Stolpe, CEO of Galapagos. “This partnership again
underlines the competitive edge of our Company in combining our
SilenceSelect and FLeXSelect libraries with high throughput disease
biology”.
SilenceSelect
is a collection of adenoviruses with siRNA based knock-down sequences
targeting over 4,000 human drugable genes, where drugable represents
those gene classes of most value for pharmaceutical development.
FLeXSelect is the mirror collection of adenoviruses with full length
genes from the drugable gene classes. These two collections in combination
with cellular assays enable the rapid functional discovery of proteins
that are directly involved in a specific disease process. In this
partnership, Galapagos will design cellular assays in disease areas
of interest to Bayer, and subsequently screen the SilenceSelect
and FLeXSelect gene collections to identify and validate targets
that will proceed into drug discovery by Bayer.
About
Bayer HealthCare AG
Bayer HealthCare AG, a subgroup of Bayer AG, with sales of approximately
9,4 billion Euro in 2002, is one of the world’s leading, innovative
companies in the health care and medical products industry. The
company combines the global activities of the divisions Animal Health,
Biological Products, Consumer Care, Diagnostics and Pharmaceuticals.
More than 34,000 people are employed by Bayer HealthCare worldwide.
Its aim is to discover and manufacture innovative products that
will improve human and animal health worldwide. Its products enhance
well-being and quality of life by diagnosing, preventing and treating
disease.
About
Galapagos Genomics NV
Galapagos Genomics is a discovery company focused on the rapid identification
and validation of disease modifying drug targets by functional screening
in human disease models. The research activities encompass the internal
programs in osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and
Alzheimer's disease, as well as numerous partnerships with leading
pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and biotech companies. Proprietary
targets resulting from our internal programs are used for the development
of drugs in our core disease areas, combined with selected out-licensing
and partnering of projects during development. The Company currently
employs 90 people, including 22 PhD's, and occupies a 2000 sq.m.
research and production facility in Mechelen, with additional research
laboratories in Leiden, The Netherlands. Galapagos’ other
partners include Boehringer Ingelheim, Euroscreen, Exelixis, Incyte,
Johnson&Johnson, Organon, Pfizer, Procter&Gamble, UCB Pharma,
Vertex and Wyeth. Galapagos was founded in 1999 by Crucell (Nasdaq,
Euronext: CRXL) and Tibotec to exploit Crucell's unique PER.C6TM
technology for target discovery. The shareholders are Abingworth
Management, Apax Partners, Burrill&Company, NIB Capital Private
Equity, Crucell Holland BV and Tibotec-Virco NV.
More information on Galapagos can be found at the website www.galapagosgenomics.com.
SilenceSelect and FLeXSelect are pending trademarks owned by Galapagos
Genomics NV.
Galapagos Genomics
Onno van de Stolpe, CEO
+31 6290 980 28
onno@galapagos.be
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